They didn’t use to sell knafeh here when I was growing up. Now they sell it on every corner. So, I decided to try out two corners. I wasn’t impressed that much. Nabulsi knafeh is still the best.

However, despite my respect for it, this Jaffa boy wants to make knafeh as well. Maybe not like the original this time, or not even close to it, but knafeh with a little twist of my own. I disassembled the knafeh into its parts and reassembled it to get something new, all the while sticking to the basic rules.

My version is still crunchy like the original, has cheese like the original, golden with a little touch of pistachio. Well, in my case, that touch is a blow, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Looks familiar, right? Well, I paired between two favorite blogposts and got the perfect date. One is a cheese mousse entremet with kadaif and pistachio, the other an infinite pistachio tartlet. A mash-up between east and west, or more precisely – when the Middle East met Paris.

So, what is it? It’s a knafeh tart of course, with baked pistachio cream and a crunchy pistachio kadaif layer that sits under a cream cheese mousse decorated with golden kadaif noodles.

Same notes from a week ago

* In this knafeh tart recipe, I use natural pistachio butter. You can probably find it in most nature stores. Pistachio butter is made from 100% pistachios, with no added oil, and doesn’t taste bitter at all.

* It’s important to make the dough in a cold environment (the ingredients should be cold as well). Make sure that the kitchen is cold throughout the process. If the dough softens while working with it, put it in the fridge for a short rest.

* In this recipe I use a Silpan to improve the baking of the crust. If you don’t have one, blind bake the crust and use pie weights, just like I did in this post.

Ingredients

Gelatin mass *
3 g gelatin powder
15 g water

Cream cheese mousse
120 g cream cheese 9% (about 160 g before straining)
40 g sugar
20 g heavy cream 38%
½ tsp vanilla paste
14 g gelatin mass
70 g heavy cream 38%

Vanilla crust
235 g all-purpose flour
30 g almond powder
90 g powdered sugar
½ tsp salt
120 g cold butter (cut into cubes)
56 g eggs (1 large egg)
1 tsp vanilla paste

Baked pistachio cream
55 g powdered sugar
56 g shelled pistachios
55 g soft butter (at room temperature)
56 g eggs (1 large egg at room temperature)

Roasted kadaif
150 g kadaif noodles
15 g powdered sugar
30 g butter

Pistachio streusel
30 g shelled pistachios
15 g all-purpose flour
15 g demerara sugar
¼ tsp salt
15 g butter

Pistachio kadaif crunch
55 g natural pistachio butter
50 g roasted kadaif
60 g pistachio streusel
55 g white chocolate

Decoration
80 g roasted kadaif
About 20 g shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped (preferably roasted as well, but not necessary)

Equipment
Round baking ring, 20 cm diameter & 2.5 cm height
Round baking ring, 18 cm diameter
Thermometer
Measuring pitcher
Mesh sieve
Hand blender

* The amount of gelatin is too small to weigh? You can make a bigger batch, let’s say 10 g gelatin powder and 50 g water and just weigh 14 g from the final mass to the recipe.

Knafeh Tart

Advance Prep

Cheese straining: Place a strainer on top of a bowl. Put the cheese in the strainer and store in the fridge for about 2 hours. In this process, most of the liquid will be separated from the cheese.

Gelatin mass: Sprinkle gelatin powder over the water, mix well and keep in the fridge for at least half an hour. If the resulting texture is too spongy or lumpy, heat the gelatin mass gently just to melt it and put it back in the fridge to set again. Cut into small pieces before use.

Cream cheese mousse

Prepare the smaller ring: warm the ring a little on low heat. Cover the bottom of the ring with plastic wrap by pulling and attaching it to the sides to form a flat sealed bottom. Place the ring on a flat tray.

Whip 70 g cold heavy cream (with a whisk or a hand mixer) until you almost get soft peaks (beware not to over whip, the goal is to get a texture that resembles yogurt). Keep in the fridge.

Place the filtered cheese in a bowl. Add vanilla and sugar. Mix until uniform. Put 20 g heavy cream in a pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add gelatin mass and mix until completely dissolved.

Pour into the bowl containing the cheese mixture. Using a whisk, mix well until you get a uniform and smooth consistency. From this stage, you have to work fast.

Remove the whipped cream from the fridge, whip it a little bit and then fold it into the cheese mixture in 3 parts until the mixture is uniform. Pour immediately into the ring. Give it a little shake to flatten the mousse.

Keep in the freezer for at least 2 hours or until it has set enough to be released easily from the ring.

Crust

Put flour, almond powder, powdered sugar, salt and butter cubes in the mixer bowl and keep in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Remove from fridge.

Using the paddle attachment, start mixing at low-medium speed until the batter reaches sand-like consistency. Make sure the butter chunks are as small as possible at the end of the process without melting the butter. Make sure the room is chilled.

Using a fork, whisk the egg yolk with the vanilla. Add the egg mixture all at once and keep mixing at medium speed until the dough starts to form but is not yet completely uniform. Remove dough parts from the bowl and combine.

Divide the dough in two equal parts – one part to be used for this recipe and the second part to be kept for another use (up to a week in the fridge or 2-3 months in the freezer).

Place the dough on top of a parchment paper. Flatten the dough a little bit and lay another parchment paper on top. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin between the two parchment papers to 3 mm thickness. Keep turning the dough throughout. Place the dough with the parchment papers on a tray. Keep in the fridge for at least an hour or two.

Fonçage:

Lightly butter the inner side of the larger baking ring so that the dough sticks to it. When the dough is ready, peel parchment papers from both sides. Place the ring gently on top of the dough and cut a larger circle around the ring.

Please note (!) If at any point the dough starts to soften, put it back in the fridge until it is slightly stiff again.

Place the ring on a parchment paper and place the dough gently on top of it. Lift the edges of the dough, gently push the rest of the dough down and attach the edges to the sides of the ring, starting from the bottom of the ring to the top. Gently press down on the sides so that the corners at the bottom form a right angle. (It’s not the end of the world if the dough gets torn accidentally. Just attach the sides that have been torn apart and move on).

Before you move on to the next step, check that the bottom is straight and uniform from the lower side of the ring (if the dough is cold enough, you will be able to flip and check it easily. If the dough is too soft, put it back in the fridge till it’s set again).

Go over the top of the ring with a sharp knife and remove the excess dough. Prick the bottom of the crust all over with a fork and keep in the freezer until the dough is stiff again (about half an hour).

Baking:

Preheat oven to 170 °C (340 °F). When the desired temperature is reached, remove the crust from the freezer and set it on a Silpan (if you don’t have one, blind bake the crust and use pie weights, just like I did in this post).

Place immediately in the oven and bake for about 18-20 minutes, until the crust begins to brown. Set aside to cool.

Release the crust from the ring. Brush the top of the crust against a flat mesh sieve to straighten the edges and give it a cleaner, sharper look. Clean the crumbs from inside the crust using a clean brush. Set aside.

Baked pistachio cream

Preheat oven to 170 °C (340 °F). Put pistachios and powdered sugar in a small food processor and ground to a fine powder. Transfer to the mixer bowl and add soft butter. Attach the paddle attachment and mix on low-medium speed until you get a uniform mixture.

Add the egg gradually to the butter mixture and keep mixing. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Keep mixing until you get a uniform cream. Transfer the cream into the crust.

Using a small offset spatula, spread the cream evenly inside the crust and flatten the surface. Put the crust back in the oven. Bake for about 16-20 minutes, until the cream is set and starts separating from the rim of the crust. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Roasted kadaif

Preheat oven to 180 °C (355 °F). Chop the kadaif noodles with a sharp knife, scissors or with your hands only. Spread them in a thin layer on top of a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Put the tray in the oven and roast for about 10 minutes until slightly golden. Mix the kadaif intermittently during the roasting process using a large wooden spatula.

Remove from the oven. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the kadaif. Melt butter and add it as well. With clean hands, mix together until all the kadaif noodles are well greased.

Put back in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes more, while mixing intermittently, until golden. Let cool at room temperature before use. Weigh the amount needed for the pistachio crunch and keep the rest in an airtight container for the decoration part.

Pistachio streusel

Preheat oven to 170 °C (340 °F). In a food processor, grind pistachios and flour together to a powder. Add sugar, butter and salt. Grind in short pulses until you get a crumble.

Spread the crumbly mixture on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Place in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let it cool at room temperature. Weigh the amount needed for the pistachio crunch.

Pistachio kadaif crunch

Put pistachio butter, roasted kadaif and pistachio streusel in a bowl. Melt white chocolate (on a double boiler or in a microwave). Add the melted chocolate to the mixture and mix until uniform. The texture should resemble a crunchy spread. If the mixture is not spreadable, add a little bit more melted chocolate (5-10 g).

Using an offset spatula, spread the crunch on top of the tart and flatten the surface to be levelled with the rim of the crust. Set aside.

Decoration

Remove the cream cheese mousse from the freezer and release it from the ring by warming the outer side of the ring with the warmth of your hands. Do it on top of the tart. The mousse will just slide out by itself and land on top of the tart.

Wait a little bit until the mousse thaws a little and creates a thin shiny layer around it that will allow the roasted kadaif noodles to adhere to it. Decorate the mousse with kadaif, on top and all around it (gently press the kadaif with your hand). Coarsely chop pistachios and sprinkle on top of the kadaif layer.

Keep the knafeh tart in the fridge for about 2-3 days in an airtight container. Please note, though the tart stays crunchy, the roasted kadaif noodles (that decorate the cheese mousse) lose their crunchiness after a day. So, you better decorate the tart with the kadaif on the day you serve the tart.

The post Knafeh Tart appeared first on Cake Lab

I celebrated the passing of time with some friends at home. In the last few weeks, I was busy with my niece Yasmine’s birthday project, so I didn’t have enough time to plan what to bake for my New Year’s guests. The night before I decided to make a dessert out of whatever I had in the kitchen. It was clear, with my hoard of pistachios from Bronte, I’m going to make a pistachio dessert.

I baked a pistachio tartlet. The dessert was actually a little pistachio celebration inspired by all of the other pistachio desserts I made in the last year. I found leftover pie dough I kept from this brûlée tart I made not long ago. I filled the crusts with baked pistachio cream like I did in this pistachio and raspberry tart. Finally, I added a crunchy pistachio layer and a pistachio crémeux like I did in this pistachio and cherry mousse cake. At least this year is starting on a green foot.

Some notes for the new year

* In this pistachio tartlet recipe, I use natural pistachio butter. You can probably find it in most nature stores. Pistachio butter is made from 100% pistachios, with no added oil, and doesn’t taste bitter at all (please taste it before you use it).

* It’s important to make the dough in a cold environment (the ingredients should be cold as well). Make sure that the kitchen is cold throughout the process. If the dough softens while working with it, put it in the fridge for a short rest.

*  In this recipe I use a Silpan to improve the baking of the crust. If you don’t have one, blind bake the crust and use pie weights, just like I did in this post.

*  Pailleté feuilletine: or in other words, caramelized wafer flakes. You can find it in most baking supply stores. You can also make it at home. Just get wafer rolls and crumble the crunchy layer that covers the filling.

Ingredients

Gelatin mass *
3 g gelatin powder
15 g water

Pistachio crémeux
50 g natural pistachio butter
50 g white chocolate
12 g gelatin mass
80 g heavy cream 38%
80 g milk 3%
40 g egg yolk (from 2 large eggs)
20 g sugar

Vanilla crust
235 g all-purpose flour
30 g almond powder
90 g powdered sugar
½ tsp salt
120 g cold butter (cut into cubes)
56 g eggs (1 large egg)
1 tsp vanilla paste

Baked pistachio cream
55 g powdered sugar
56 g shelled pistachios
55 g soft butter (at room temperature)
56 g eggs (1 large egg at room temperature)

Pistachio streusel
30 g shelled pistachios
15 g all-purpose flour
15 g demerara sugar
¼ tsp salt
15 g butter

Pistachio crunch
55 g natural pistachio butter
30 g pailleté feuilletine
60 g pistachio streusel
30 g milk chocolate
15 g dark chocolate 58%

Decoration
About 100 g shelled pistachios

Equipment
6 round baking rings, 8 cm diameter & 2.5 cm height
6 round baking rings, 7 cm diameter
Thermometer
Measuring pitcher
Mesh sieve
Hand blender

* The amount of gelatin is too small to weigh? You can make a bigger batch, let’s say 10 g gelatin powder and 50 g water and just weigh 14 g from the final mass to the recipe.

The recipe makes 6 pistachio tartlet

Advance prep

Gelatin mass: Sprinkle gelatin powder over the water, mix well and keep in the fridge for at least half an hour. If the resulting texture is too spongy or lumpy, heat the gelatin mass gently just to melt it and put it back in the fridge to set again. Cut into small pieces before use.

Roasted pistachios for decoration: Preheat the oven to 160 °C / 320 °F. Scatter about100 g shelled pistachios on a baking tray and roast for about 7 minutes until they brown a bit. Cool at room temperature. Put roasted pistachios in a small food processor. Grind in short pulses until crushed. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.

Pistachio crémeux

Prepare the smaller rings: warm the rings a little on low heat. Cover the bottom of the rings with plastic wrap by pulling and attaching it to the sides to form a flat sealed bottom. Place the rings on a flat tray.

Put white chocolate in a measuring pitcher. Add pistachio butter and gelatin mass. Place a sieve on top.

Put milk, heavy cream, sugar and egg yolks in a saucepan and mix. Heat on medium heat up to a temperature of 80-82 °C / 176-180 °F (it’s ok to go a little higher, but not more than 84 °C / 183 °F), while mixing energetically, but gently, with a spatula to prevent the egg yolk from congealing (especially at the bottom of the saucepan).

Remove from heat and pour immediately through the sieve into the measuring pitcher (to get rid of egg chunks that may have hardened while cooking). Mix a little bit with a spatula and then use a hand blender to blend it to a uniform consistency.

Pour the mixture into the the rings up to a height of 1 cm. Keep in the freezer for at least 2 hours or until set.

Crust

Put flour, almond powder, powdered sugar, salt and butter cubes in the mixer bowl and keep in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Remove from fridge.

Using the paddle attachment, start mixing at low-medium speed until the batter reaches sand-like consistency. Make sure the butter chunks are as small as possible at the end of the process without melting the butter. Make sure the room is chilled.

Using a fork, whisk the egg yolk with the vanilla. Add the egg mixture all at once and keep mixing at medium speed until the dough starts to form but is not yet completely uniform. Remove dough parts from the bowl and combine. Divide the dough in two equal parts. Keep one part in the fridge for the meantime.

Place the second part on top of a parchment paper. Flatten the dough a little bit and lay another parchment paper on top. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin between the two parchment papers to 3 mm thickness. Keep turning the dough throughout.

Place the dough with the parchment papers on a tray. Keep in the fridge for at least an hour or two. Repeat the process with the other part of the dough.

Fonçage:

Lightly butter the inner side of the larger baking rings so that the dough sticks to them. When the dough is ready, peel parchment papers from both sides. Place the dough back on one of the papers.

Using a ruler and a sharp knife, cut 3 strips from the dough, each 24 cm long and 3 cm wide. Place 3 rings on top of the dough and cut out 3 circles. Leave the dough inside the rings. Lift a strip of dough and attach it to the inner side of one ring. Attach the edges and cut the excess dough.

Please note (!) If at any point the dough starts to soften, put it back in the fridge until it is slightly stiff again.

Gently press down on the sides so that the corners at the bottom form a right angle. Go over the top of the ring with a sharp knife and remove the excess dough. Prick the bottom of the crust all over with a fork.

Repeat the process with the rest of the rings and then with the second part of the dough. Keep the crusts in the freezer until the dough is stiff (about half an hour).

Baking:

Preheat oven to 170 °C (340 °F). When the desired temperature is reached, remove the crusts from the freezer and set them on a baking tray lined with a Silpan (if you don’t have one, blind bake the crust and use pie weights, just like I did in this post).

Place immediately in the oven and bake for about 16-18 minutes, until the crust begins to brown. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Release the crusts from the ring. Brush the top of the crusts against a flat mesh sieve to straighten the edges and give it a cleaner, sharper look. Clean the crumbs from inside the crusts using a clean brush. Set aside.

Baked pistachio cream

Preheat oven to 170 °C (340 °F). Put pistachios and powdered sugar in a small food processor and ground to a fine powder. Transfer to the mixer bowl and add soft butter. Attach the paddle attachment and mix on low-medium speed until you get a uniform mixture.

Add the egg gradually to the butter mixture and keep mixing. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Keep mixing until you get a uniform cream. Transfer the cream into the crusts up to half their height (use a bent spoon to flatten the surface evenly).

Put the crusts back in the oven. Bake for about 16-19 minutes, until the cream is set and starts separating from the rim of the crusts. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Pistachio streusel

Preheat oven to 170 °C (340 °F). In a food processor, grind pistachios and flour together to a powder. Add sugar, butter and salt. Grind in short pulses until you get a crumble.

Spread the crumbly mixture on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Place in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let it cool at room temperature. Weigh the amount needed for the pistachio crunch.

Pistachio crunch

Put pistachio butter, pailleté feuilletine and pistachio streusel in a bowl. Melt milk and dark chocolate together (on a double boiler or in a microwave). Add the melted chocolate to the mixture and mix until uniform. The texture should resemble a crunchy spread. If the mixture is not spreadable, add a little bit more melted chocolate (5-10 g).

Assembly & decoration

Using an offset spatula, spread the pistachio crunch on top of each tart and flatten the surface to be levelled with the rim of the crust. Set aside.

Remove the pistachio crémeux from the freezer and release it from the ring by warming the outer side of the ring with the warmth of your hands. Do it on top of the tart. The crémeux will just slide out by itself and land on top of the tart.

Wait a little bit till the crémeux thaws a little and creates a thin shiny layer around it that will allow the pistachios to adhere to it. Decorate the crémeux with crushed roasted pistachios, on top and all around it (gently press the pistachios with your hand).

That’s all basically. Keep the pistachio tartlet in the fridge for about 2-3 days in an airtight container.

The post Pistachio Tartlet appeared first on Cake Lab

This time I created a bigger and more accurate chocolate sculpture of the Disney princess. Yasmine had one request: she did not want the princess to be eaten. She wanted to put it in her bedroom by her bedside to keep her safe from all the night monsters. Her wish was my command. But I cannot guarantee that the heat monsters won’t melt the princess this summer.

I also created a Moroccan-style pillow that was a better fit for the royal theme. Underneath the pillow I hid a chocolate cake with a layer of chocolate ganache in the middle. The kids don’t want to graduate from traditional chocolate birthday cake just yet.

The grown-ups, however, are a bit tired of it. To make everyone happy, I baked an additional dessert, especially for the grown-ups with a young soul: a Kinder Bueno tart, inspired by their favorite chocolate bar.

Royal notes

* In this Kinder Bueno tart recipe I use natural hazelnut butter. You can probably find it in most nature stores. Natural hazelnut butter is made from 100% hazelnuts, with no added oil, and doesn’t taste bitter at all (please taste it before you use it).

* It’s important to make the dough in a cold environment (the ingredients should be cold as well). Make sure that the kitchen is cold throughout the process. If the dough softens while working with it, put it in the fridge for a short rest.

*  In this recipe I use a Silpan to improve the baking of the crust. If you don’t have one, blind bake the crust and use pie weights, just like I did in this post.

*  Pailleté feuilletine: or in other words, caramelized wafer flakes. You can find it in most baking supply stores. You can also make it at home. Just get wafer rolls and crumble the crunchy layer that covers the filling.

Ingredients

Gelatin mass *
3 g gelatin powder
15 g water

Kinder Bueno crémeux
50 g natural hazelnut butter
50 g white chocolate
12 g gelatin mass
80 g heavy cream 38%
80 g milk 3%
40 g egg yolk (from 2 large eggs)
20 g sugar

Vanilla crust
235 g all-purpose flour
30 g almond powder
90 g powdered sugar
½ tsp salt
120 g cold butter (cut into cubes)
56 g eggs (1 large egg)
1 tsp vanilla paste

Baked hazelnut cream
55 g powdered sugar
30 g peeled hazelnuts
25 g almond powder
55 g soft butter (at room temperature)
55 g eggs (1 large egg at room temperature)

Hazelnut streusel
30 g peeled hazelnuts
15 g all-purpose flour
15 g demerara sugar
¼ tsp salt
15 g butter

Hazelnut crunch
80 g natural hazelnut butter
30 g pailleté feuilletine
60 g hazelnut streusel
25 g milk chocolate
15 g dark chocolate 58%

Glaze
100 g milk chocolate
60 g white chocolate
100 g heavy cream 38%

Decoration
50 g dark chocolate 56%
About 30 g toasted hazelnuts (unpeeled)

Equipment
Round baking ring, 20 cm diameter & 2.5 cm height
Round baking ring, 18 cm diameter
Thermometer
Measuring pitcher
Mesh sieve
Hand blender

* The amount of gelatin is too small to weigh? You can make a bigger batch, let’s say 10 g gelatin powder and 50 g water and just weigh 14 g from the final mass to the recipe.

Gelatin mass

Sprinkle gelatin powder over the water, mix well and keep in the fridge for at least half an hour. If the resulting texture is too spongy or lumpy, heat the gelatin mass gently just to melt it and put it back in the fridge to set again. Cut into small pieces before use.

Kinder Bueno crémeux

Prepare the smaller ring: warm the ring a little on low heat. Cover the bottom of the ring with plastic wrap by pulling and attaching it to the sides to form a flat sealed bottom. Place the ring on a flat tray.

Put white chocolate in a measuring pitcher. Add hazelnut butter and gelatin mass. Place a sieve on top.

Put milk, heavy cream, sugar and egg yolks in a saucepan and mix. Heat on medium heat up to a temperature of 80-82 °C / 176-180 °F (it’s ok to go a little higher, but not more than 84 °C / 183 °F), while mixing energetically, but gently, with a spatula to prevent the egg yolk from congealing (especially at the bottom of the saucepan).

Remove from heat and pour immediately through the sieve into the measuring pitcher (to get rid of egg chunks that may have hardened while cooking). Mix a little bit with a spatula and then use a hand blender to blend it to a uniform consistency.

Pour the mixture into the bottom sealed ring. Keep the Kinder Bueno crémeux in the freezer for at least 2 hours or until set.

Crust

Put flour, almond powder, powdered sugar, salt and butter cubes in the mixer bowl and keep in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Remove from fridge.

Using the paddle attachment, start mixing at low-medium speed until the batter reaches sand-like consistency. Make sure the butter chunks are as small as possible at the end of the process without melting the butter. Make sure the room is chilled.

Using a fork, whisk the egg yolk with the vanilla. Add the egg mixture all at once and keep mixing at medium speed until the dough starts to form but is not yet completely uniform. Remove dough parts from the bowl and combine.

Divide the dough in two equal parts – one part to be used for this recipe and the second part to be kept for another use (up to a week in the fridge or two-three months in the freezer).

Place the dough on top of a parchment paper. Flatten the dough a little bit and lay another parchment paper on top. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin between the two parchment papers to 3 mm thickness. Keep turning the dough throughout. Place the dough with the parchment papers on a tray. Keep in the fridge for at least an hour or two.

Fonçage:

Lightly butter the inner side of the larger baking ring so that the dough sticks to it. When the dough is ready, peel parchment papers from both sides. Place the ring gently on top of the dough and cut a larger circle around the ring.

Please note (!) If at any point the dough starts to soften, put it back in the fridge until it is slightly stiff again.

Place the ring on a parchment paper and place the dough gently on top of it. Lift the edges of the dough, gently push the rest of the dough down and attach the edges to the sides of the ring, starting from the bottom of the ring to the top. Gently press down on the sides so that the corners at the bottom form a right angle. (It’s not the end of the world if the dough gets torn accidentally. Just attach the sides that have been torn apart and move on).

Before you move on to the next step, check that the bottom is straight and uniform from the lower side of the ring (if the dough is cold enough, you will be able to flip and check it easily. If the dough is too soft, put it back in the fridge till it’s set again).

Go over the top of the ring with a sharp knife and remove the excess dough. Prick the bottom of the crust all over with a fork and keep in the freezer until the dough is stiff again (about half an hour).

Baking:

Preheat oven to 170 °C (340 °F). When the desired temperature is reached, remove the crust from the freezer and set it on a Silpan (if you don’t have one, blind bake the crust and use pie weights, just like I did in this post).

Place immediately in the oven and bake for about 18-20 minutes, until the crust begins to brown. Set aside to cool.

Release the crust from the ring. Brush the top of the crust against a flat mesh sieve to straighten the edges and give it a cleaner, sharper look. Clean the crumbs from inside the crust using a clean brush. Set aside.

Baked hazelnut cream

Preheat oven to 170 °C (340 °F). Put hazelnuts and powdered sugar in a small food processor and ground to a fine powder. Transfer to the mixer bowl and add almond powder and soft butter. Attach the paddle attachment and mix on low-medium speed until you get a uniform mixture.

Add the egg gradually to the butter mixture and keep mixing. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Keep mixing until you get a uniform cream. Transfer the cream into the crust.

Using a small offset spatula, spread the cream evenly inside the crust and flatten the surface. Put the crust back in the oven. Bake for about 16-20 minutes, until the cream is set and starts separating from the rim of the crust. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Hazelnut streusel

Preheat oven to 170 °C (340 °F). In a food processor, grind hazelnuts and flour together to a powder. Add sugar, butter and salt. Grind in short pulses until you get a crumble.

Spread the crumbly mixture on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Place in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let it cool at room temperature.

Hazelnut crunch

Put hazelnut butter, pailleté feuilletine and hazelnut streusel in a bowl. Melt milk and dark chocolate together (on a double boiler or in a microwave). Add the melted chocolate to the mixture and mix until uniform. The texture should resemble a crunchy spread. If the mixture is not spreadable, add a little bit more melted chocolate (5-10 g).

Using an offset spatula, spread the hazelnut crunch on top of the tart and flatten the surface to be levelled with the rim of the crust. Set aside.

Glaze

Put white and milk chocolate in a measuring pitcher. Bring the heavy cream to a simmer and pour over chocolate, making sure all the chocolate is covered. Mix well with a spatula until uniform.

Remove the Kinder Bueno crémeux from the freezer and release it from the ring by warming the outer side of the ring with the warmth of your hands. Do it on top of a raised cooling rack. The crémeux will just slide out by itself and land on top of the cooling rack. Place a parchment paper underneath the cooling rack.

Immediately pour the glaze on top of the crémeux starting from the outer edge and continuing inwards (make sure all the sides are coated). Gently remove the excess glaze on top of the crémeux using a large offset spatula to get a thin uniform layer.

Slide the offset spatula under the crémeux and move the crémeux around on the cooling rack to get rid of the excess glaze on the bottom.

Lift the crémeux carefully with the spatula and place it on top of the tart. Keep the tart in the fridge to let the glaze set. In the meantime, prepare the decoration.

Decoration

Roast & grind hazelnuts: Preheat the oven to 180 °C / 355 °F. Place hazelnuts on a baking tray and bake for about 10-15 minutes, until roasted. Remove from the oven. Let cool at room temperature before use. Put hazelnuts in a small food processor. Grind in short pulses until crushed. Transfer to a small bowl.

Melt dark chocolate on a double boiler or in a microwave. Fill a pastry bag with the melted chocolate. Remove the tart from the fridge. Use scissors to cut a narrow opening at the edge of the bag. Pipe chocolate stripes on top of the tart, similar to a Kinder Bueno bar. Decorate the sides of the crust with crushed hazelnuts.

Keep this Kinder Bueno tart in the fridge in an airtight container for about 2-3 days.

The post Kinder Bueno Tart appeared first on Cake Lab

So I adapted Cyril’s recipe with the blessed changes and piped yellow bright mounds over the cake. To tell you the truth, this cream is a brat. You have to find the right texture to be able to pipe it so nicely. If the cream is too cold, it will be too grainy due to the gelatin in it and hence it won’t look nice. If the cream is too warm (or over mixed), it will be too soft to keep its shape. Fortunately, even if you miss the perfect texture while mixing, you can always fix it by putting it back in the fridge until it’s set again or keep mixing until it is soft enough.

Anyway, it’s one of the best cakes I baked lately, and it’s just so fun to try it out in different flavors. I’m pretty sure you can make it gluten free if you replace the flour in the crunchy layer with something else that will give the same effect. One day soon I’ll give it a try. Maybe after I try the cake with chocolate and hazelnuts. Or maybe lemon meringue. I guess this is not the last time you’ll hear from this cake.

Ingredients

Gelatin mass *
3 g gelatin powder
15 g water

Lemon Cream **
90 g lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
110 g sugar
112 g eggs (2L)
Zest from 1 lemon
170 g soft butter
14 g gelatin mass

Pistachio paste
70 g shelled pistachios
12 g grapeseed oil (or any vegetable oil)

Pistachio crunch
50 g softened butter
50 g light brown sugar
70 g shelled pistachios
50 g flour
A pinch of salt

Pistachio biscuit
50 g shelled pistachios
50 g almond powder
100 g powdered sugar
70 g egg whites (from 2 medium eggs)
40 g sugar
80 g butter
15 g potato/corn flour
A pinch of salt
70 g egg whites (from 2 medium eggs)
10 g egg yolk (half a yolk)
25 g pistachio paste

Equipment
Square baking ring, 20×20 cm
Pastry bag fitted with a smooth round 1 cm piping tip
Thermometer (not mandatory, but recommended)

* The amount of gelatin it too small to weigh? You can make a bigger batch, let’s say 10 g gelatin powder and 50 g water and just weigh 14 g from the final mass to the recipe.

** What to do with leftovers? From the extras of the crunch and the biscuit batter I was able to make another 4 small cakes. The lemon cream however didn’t leave leftovers. If you like, you can increase the cream amount (by 1.5) and pipe it on the small cakes as well.

Advance prep (the night before)

Gelatin mass: Sprinkle gelatin powder over the water, mix well and keep in the fridge for at least half an hour. Cut into small pieces before use.

Lemon Cream: Put lemon juice, sugar, lemon zest and eggs in a saucepan and whisk. Start warming on medium heat, while whisking all along to prevent the egg yolk from congealing. Once it starts to bubble (or reaches 84 °C / 180 ºF) remove from heat and add the gelatin mass. Mix well and pour the mixture through a sieve into a measuring pitcher.

As soon as the temperature reaches 50 °C / 120 °F, add the soft butter (gradually but quickly) and mix well. Grind with a hand blender to a uniform consistency. Pour the cream into a bowl. Cover the surface with plastic wrap. Keep in the fridge overnight to let the cream set.

Roasted pistachios: Preheat the oven to 160 °C / 320 ºF. Scatter about 200 g shelled pistachios on a baking tray and roast for about 7 minutes until they brown a bit. Cool at room temperature and weigh the amount needed for each layer.

Pistachio paste

Put roasted pistachios in a small food processor and grind them to a powder. Add the oil and grind again until it becomes a paste. Weigh 25 g and place it in a small bowl. Keep the rest in the fridge for some other use.

Pistachio crunch

Put roasted pistachios and flour in a food processor. Grind them to a powder. Be careful not to grind it too much otherwise you’ll get a paste. Transfer the powder to the mixer bowl. Add soft butter cubes, brown sugar and salt. Attach the paddle attachment and mix on low-medium speed until dough is formed.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place it between two parchment papers. Roll out (or actually, spread) the dough with a rolling pin to a thickness of 3 mm. Keep in the freezer until set (about 15 minutes). Preheat oven to 150 °C / 300 °F.

Using the square ring, cut out a square (cut out smaller squares around it as well if you got small rings). Place the cut out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool at room temperature.

Place the ring around the square crunch layer. Keep aside. Make sure the baking sheet is straight and doesn’t warp during baking.

Pistachio biscuit

Place pistachios, almond powder and powdered sugar in a food processor. Grind them for about half a minute to get a powder. Be careful not to grind it too much otherwise you’ll get a paste. Transfer the powder to medium bowl. Keep aside. Preheat oven to 160 °C / 320 °F.

French meringue:

Whip 70 g egg whites in a mixer on medium speed until thick white foam is formed. While still whipping at medium speed, add sugar gradually and slowly. After all sugar is added, increase speed to high and whip until you get a strong and firm meringue (otherwise the batter will be too runny and will leak from the ring).

In the meantime, melt the butter. Add potato flour and salt to the powders and mix. Add the rest of the egg whites and the yolk as well. Whisk it all together. Add the pistachio paste and whisk again. Transfer a table spoon from the mixture to the melted butter. Mix well and return it back to the mixture. Whisk well.

Fold the meringue into the mixture in two parts using a whisk. Weigh 320 g of the batter and pour it into the square ring. (If you like, pour the rest of the batter in small rings up to 2/3 of their height). If needed, flatten the surface using a small offset spatula.

Place immediately in the oven. Bake for about 20-22 minutes, until the edge of the biscuit starts to separate from the ring. Remove from oven and go over the sides of the ring with a knife. Cool at room temperature. Release the biscuit from the ring.

Remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the biscuit. Transfer to a serving plate, cover well and keep in the fridge until assembly. If the biscuit isn’t symmetrical, you may cut the edges with a serrated knife after it chills in the fridge.

Put it all together!

Remove the lemon cream from the fridge. Mix it a little with a whisk until it gets a smooth texture (don’t over mix, otherwise the cream will become too soft to be piped – in which case, put it back in the fridge until it sets back).

Fit a pastry bag with a 1 cm tip and fill it with the cream. Holding the bag upright, pipe small mounds of lemon cream on top of the biscuit, row by row.

Sprinkle pistachio powder on top or just around the edge. Place some whole shelled pistachios on top. Keep this wonderful cake in the fridge in an airtight container. I’m not sure how long it keeps. Somehow it’s always gone after a day or two.

The post Pistachio Cake with Lemon Cream appeared first on Cake Lab

To be honest, for a moment I thought I had invented the wheel. After the first bite I realized that I had recreated a Snickers ice cream bar. Not only did I put homemade peanut butter inside, I also added peanut praliné, which means I had to make caramel, add peanuts and grind it all together. So tasty!

I’ve been asked a number of times to publish a recipe for a mousse without eggs or the need for a candy thermometer. So here you go. My first eggless, thermometer-free mousse. The peanut mousse cube sits on a delicious peanut studded brownie (which does contain eggs). This fudgy gluten-free brownie recipe comes from a wonderful cookbook called “Nourish Cakes”. I coated the mousse in milk chocolate with chopped peanuts. I’m sure the pistachio version of this will come soon enough.

Nutty Notes

* The peanuts need to be roasted beforehand. All I could find at the supermarket was salted roasted peanuts. I removed the peanut skins in a matter of minutes.

* I made the mousse from combining natural peanut butter (100% peanuts) and peanut praliné. It might be possible to make the mousse from just peanut butter or peanut praliné only. The combination worked excellently for me so I didn’t try the other options.

* I made the coating from chocolate, peanuts and oil. In retrospect, I should have used cocoa butter instead of oil to get a crunchier coating. That’s what you’ll find in this recipe. If you still want to use oil, add 25 g vegetable oil (2.5 tbsp) instead of cocoa butter. The coating will be softer, but still tasty.

* Don’t have a silicone cube mold? Leave the brownies in the baking ring (preferably 3-4 cm high). Pour the mousse over the brownies before cutting and keep it in the freezer. Once it sets, cut into 3×3 cm squares. Dip in the coating.

Ingredients

Gelatin mass
5 g gelatin powder
25 g water

Peanut brownies
1 sweet potato (at least 200 g)
50 g peanuts
20 g pitted dates (Medjool is best)
75 g dark chocolate 70%
20 g canola oil
15 g raw tahini
56 g eggs (1 large)
55 g dark brown sugar
Pinch of coarse salt

Peanut praliné
100 g roasted peanuts
20 g water
75 g sugar
Pinch of salt

Peanut butter mousse
90 g natural peanut butter
65 g peanut praliné
65 g milk
19 g gelatin mass
160 g heavy cream

Coating
250 g milk chocolate
50 g cocoa butter *
55 g roasted peanuts

Equipment
Square baking ring, 20×20 cm
Parchment paper
Aluminum foil
Silicone cube mold, with 15 sockets (3.4×3.4×3.4 cm each)
Pastry bag
Ruler
Toothpicks
Cooling rack

* Can be substituted with 25 g canola oil (2.5 tbsp). The coating will be less crunchy, but still tasty.

The recipe makes 15 peanut butter mousse cubes

Gelatin mass

Sprinkle gelatin powder over the water, mix well and keep in the fridge for at least half an hour. Cut into small pieces before use.

Peanut brownies

Preheat oven to 200 °C / 390 °F. Place the sweet potato on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Place in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes until the center is soft. In the meantime, chop peanuts coarsely.

Lightly oil the inner sides of the baking ring. Place a layer of aluminum foil on a baking tray, followed by a layer of parchment paper and set the square ring on top. Fold the edges of the paper and foil to the sides of the ring and tighten them so that the batter won’t spill out of the bottom of the ring.

Remove the sweet potato from the oven when ready and lower the heat to 180 °C / 355 °F. Let the sweet potato cool a little bit. Slice the sweet potato in two and weigh 75 g of potato without the peel.

Grind the dates in a food processor. Add sweet potato and grind together to a smooth texture. Melt chocolate on a double boiler while mixing all along. Add the sweet potato mixture to the melted chocolate and mix until uniform. Add oil and tahini and mix again. Keep aside.

Put eggs, sugar and salt in a bowl. Whip them at medium-high speed for about 2-3 minutes, or until you get a foamy mixture. Add the egg mixture to the chocolate mixture gradually and mix gently until uniform. Fold the chopped peanuts into the batter.

Bake

Pour the batter into the baking ring and flatten the surface. Place it in the oven and bake for about 18-20 minutes until it rises and the surface looks dry. Remove from oven and pass a knife around the cake. (Keep the brownies in the baking ring). Let the brownies cool at room temperature for about half an hour and then keep it in the freezer for another half an hour.

Remove the brownies from the freezer and release it from the ring. Cut the brownies into squares the size of 3×3 cm. (How? Using a ruler and a small knife, mark a little mark every 3 cm around the brownies. Using a big sharp knife, cut the brownies following the markings). Keep in the freezer.

Peanut praliné

Make caramel: Put water and then sugar in a saucepan. Place on medium heat. Stir the sugar with a spatula to dissolve it. Once the water starts to boil, stop stirring and remove the spatula. Keep on medium heat until you get an ember – light brown color. (You may slightly tilt the saucepan now and then to get a more uniform heating).

Important (!) The more you cook the caramel, the darker the color will be. The caramel might become bitter.

Once you reach the desired color, remove the saucepan from heat. Immediately add peanuts and salt to the saucepan. Mix until all peanuts are covered in a thin layer of caramel. Pour the caramelized peanuts and all the remaining caramel onto a baking paper (no need to separate them just yet). Let them cool at room temperature.

Break the chunk of peanuts into smaller pieces and transfer to a small food processor. Grind in short pulses until you obtain a powder and then grind again at high speed until you get a creamy hazelnut paste. Scrape the sides occasionally. The process could take up to 10 minutes. Weigh 65 g of praliné and put it in a bowl. Keep the rest in the fridge for some other use.

Peanut butter mousse

Add peanut butter to the praliné and mix until uniform. Keep aside.

Bring milk to a boil. Remove from heat. Add gelatin mass and mix to dissolve the gelatin. Pour the milk on the peanut mixture and mix until you get a smooth and uniform cream. Let cool at room temperature (the temperature should be about 35-40 °C / 95-105 °F before you can add the heavy cream – You may check with your finger if it reached body temperature).

Whip heavy cream to a texture that resembles thick fluid like yogurt (beware not to over whip). Transfer a third of the whipped cream to the peanut cream and mix until uniform. Add the rest of the whipped cream and fold gently. Fill a pastry bag with the mixture. Place the silicone cube mold on a tray or a cutting board.

Cut a small opening (about 1 cm) at the edge of the pastry bag. Fill the sockets in the mold almost to the end (about ½ cm from the edge). Make sure the mousse has spread to all corners of the cube. Remove the brownies from the freezer. Place a brownie square on each mousse filled cube and push it inside a little bit. Flatten the surface and clean the mousse excess from the mold using a small spatula.

Keep the mousse cubes in the freezer for a good few hours until the mousse has set. When the mousse is firm and ready for coating, stick a toothpick in each cube and release from the mold. Keep in the freezer until the coating is ready.

Coating

Grind peanuts in a food processor in short pulses until you get coarse pieces of peanuts. Sift the peanuts to get rid of the powder. Melt chocolate and cocoa butter on a double boiler. Remove from heat. Add peanuts and mix until uniform.

Transfer the chocolate coating into a narrow cup. Dip a peanut mousse cube in the coating up to its edge (without the bottom). Remove and let the extra coating drip back into the cup. Turn the cube over and place it on a cooling rack. Remove the toothpick from the bottom. Keep in the fridge in an airtight container.

The post Peanut Butter Mousse Cubes (In Other Words: Snickers) appeared first on Cake Lab

Here lies the problem. Every year I promise myself to buy a huge amount of limes, squeeze them all into ice cube trays and keep them as frozen lime cubes to use for the rest of the year. But I somehow manage to forget about it or just get lazy. No matter, at least I’ll have something to look for at the end of summer. Before you cut and squeeze the limes, make sue to grate the peel and keep the zest as well.

Initially I was planning to make a classic key lime pie. I then changed my mind and made cool little cookies instead. No need to cut, no need for utensils or serving plates. Most importantly, look how cute they are! Of course, if you can’t find limes you can just substitute the same amount of lemons. Another option (which I’ll surely try soon), is to substitute the lime cream with chocolate ganache and get a kind of a s’mores cookie.

I already used this cream in different variations in other recipes, like in this lemon halva tart and that lemon berry tart. This time I reduced the butter by 17% of the original recipe and it worked perfectly. You know, the fact that it comes in bite size will also save you some calories, if you can resist the temptation of going for another cookie, and then another one and… oh well, maybe it’s not going to save you anything after all.

Some zesty notes

* No limes? No problem. Replace with the same amount of lemons.

* Unfortunately, lime meringue cookies are at their best the day of assembly only. The thin butter cookie absorbs the moisture from the cream fast and then loses its crispness a day later. That’s why it’s best to assemble the lime cookies as close to serving as possible.

* The recipe yields leftover lime cream and meringue. You can pipe the leftover lime cream in small cups and keep in the fridge. Pipe the leftover meringue on top and you get gluten free desserts in a cup.

Ingredients

Gelatin mass
5 g gelatin powder
25 g water

Lime Cream
90 g lime juice (about 3 limes)
110 g sugar
112 g eggs (2 large eggs)
Zest of 1 lime
150 g soft butter
14 g gelatin mass

Cookie
200 g flour
100 g powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
Zest of 1 lime
80 g cold butter (cut into cubes)
2 medium egg yolks (40 g)
2 tsp water (10 g)

Swiss Meringue
100 g egg whites (from about 3 large eggs)
180 g sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla paste

Equipment
Thermometer
Round cookie cutter, 4 cm diameter
Pastry bag fitted with a 10 mm smooth tip
Pastry bag fitted with a 16 mm smooth tip
Burner

The recipe makes about 30 lime meringue cookies

Advance prep (the night before)

Gelatin mass: Sprinkle gelatin powder over the water, mix well and keep in the fridge for at least half an hour. Cut into small pieces before use.

Lime Cream: Put lime juice, sugar, lime zest and eggs in a saucepan and whisk. Start warming on medium heat, while whisking all along to prevent the egg yolk from congealing.

Once the mixture starts to thicken (or reaches 84 °C/ 183 °F), remove from heat and add gelatin mass. Mix well and pour the mixture immediately through a sieve into a measuring pitcher.

As soon as the temperature reaches 50 °C/ 120 °F, add the soft butter (gradually but quickly) and mix well. Grind with a hand blender to a uniform consistency.

Transfer the cream into a bowl. Cover the surface with plastic wrap. Keep in the fridge overnight to let the cream set.

Cookie

Put flour, powdered sugar, salt, lime zest and butter cubes in the mixer bowl and keep in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Remove from fridge. Using the paddle attachment, start mixing at low-medium speed until the batter reaches sand-like consistency. Make sure the butter chunks are as small as possible at the end of the process without melting the butter. Make sure the room is cool enough.

Add egg yolk and water all at once and keep mixing at medium speed until the dough starts to form but is not yet completely uniform. If the dough doesn’t form, add one more teaspoon of water.

Remove dough parts from the bowl and combine together. Divide the dough in two parts. Keep one part in the fridge and place the other on top of a parchment paper. Flatten the dough a little bit and lay another parchment paper on top.

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin between the two parchment papers to 2 mm thickness (we want a thin cookie). Keep turning the dough throughout. Place the dough with the parchment papers on a tray. Keep in the fridge for at least an hour. Repeat the process with the second part of the dough.

When the dough is stiff and cold, remove the parchment papers and place the dough back on one of the papers. Using a 4 cm round cookie cutter, cut out circles from the dough. Keep in the freezer for about 10 minutes and preheat the oven to 175 ºC /345 ºF in the meantime.

Once the desired temperature is reached, remove the cookies from the freezer and transfer them to a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Place the tray in the oven and bake for about 8-10 minutes until the edges begin to brown. Remove from the oven and cool at room temperature. If you’re not planning to assemble them that same day, keep in the freezer in an airtight container to keep them fresh.

Assembly (Day of serving)

Organize the cookies in pairs. Remove the lime cream from the fridge and whisk it until you get a smooth texture (don’t whisk too much though, otherwise the cream will become too soft for piping – in this case, put it back in the fridge until it’s set again).

Fit a pastry bag with a 10 mm smooth tip and fill it with the lime cream. Holding the pastry bag vertically, gently pipe a mound of lime cream on top of half the cookies. Place another cookie on top and press gently to squash the cream a little between the cookies. Keep in the fridge until set. Prepare the meringue in the meantime.

Tip! Pipe the leftover cream in small cups and keep in the fridge. Same with the meringue, pipe the leftover meringue on top of the lime cream and you’ll get gluten free desserts in a cup.

Swiss meringue

Put egg whites, sugar and salt in a stainless steel bowl and whisk well. Warm the mixture on a double boiler (medium heat) while whisking all along to melt the sugar and pasteurize the egg whites.

Once the temperature reaches 60 ºC /140 ºF, lower the flame and keep whisking for about 5 more minutes (OR bring the temperature to 70 ºC /160 ºF and whisk for 1 minute).

Make sure the temperature doesn’t pass 75 ºC /165 ºF. (I just lower or turn off the flame accordingly and keep the temperature between 60-70 ºC / 140-160 ºF).

Remove from heat and strain immediately into the mixer bowl. Whip the mixture on maximum speed for about 5 minutes until the meringue is stable and shiny (stiff peaks). Towards the end, add vanilla paste and keep whipping.

Fit a pastry bag with a 16 mm smooth tip and fill it with the meringue. Holding the pastry bag vertically, pipe a meringue mound on top of each cookie. To get a sharp tip and not curly, slow down the piping speed towards the end.

Keep in the fridge in an airtight container. Lime meringue cookies are at their best the day of assembly. Just before serving, burn the meringue with a burner.

The post Lime Meringue Cookies appeared first on Cake Lab

Denon opened in the middle of my school year at the Israeli Institute for Culinary Arts. It made a lot of noise, especially because some of our instructors left to join the new school. One of them, Michal, was one of my favorites and I was really sad to see her go. Oh well, now I have taken one of their recipes captive. Actually, if I would have tasted this cake then, I may have asked to transfer.

To avoid pistachio overdose, especially after the previous pistachio overload, I went with a hazelnut cake with coffee chantilly. The combination works excellently. This hazelnut cake is an ode to the nut and sings its praises with every layer, no matter which nut you choose to use. So Mor, thank you very much. This post is entirely dedicated to you (and ironically contains no pistachios).

Not nuts about nuts?

* Don’t like coffee? Drop the coffee from the recipe and replace it with a teaspoon of vanilla (which you add during whipping).

* Want a nuttier hazelnut cake? Drop the coffee from the recipe and replace it with 20 g hazelnut paste. Add this paste to the 80 g heavy cream and bring them to a boil together.

* Afraid of making caramel? Confront your fears and extinguish the darkness! Or… just drop the hazelnut praliné from the recipe. Another option would be to buy it ready made.

* Prefer pistachios over hazelnuts? Drop the praliné from the recipe (or make a pistachio praliné according to this recipe). Replace each hazelnut in the recipe with pistachio. Prepare a pistachio paste following this post. Instead of coffee in the Chantilly, add 20 g pistachio paste to the 80 g heavy cream and bring them to a boil together.

* The amount of gelatin powder is too small to weigh? Make a bigger batch from let’s say 10 g powder gelatin and 50 g water, and weigh 12 g gelatin mass for the recipe.

* Not festive enough? I decorated the smaller cakes with a cool chocolate decoration I learned from this video on YouTube.

Ingredients

Gelatin mass
2 g gelatin powder
10 g water

Hazelnut praliné
100 g sugar
100 g hazelnuts
35 g water
A pinch of salt

30 g heavy cream

Hazelnut crunch
50 g softened butter
50 g light brown sugar
70 g hazelnuts
50 g flour
A pinch of salt

Hazelnut paste
80 g hazelnuts

Hazelnut biscuit
45 g hazelnuts
55 g almond powder
100 g powdered sugar
65 g egg whites (a little less than 2 medium eggs)
40 g sugar
80 g butter
15 g potato flour
A pinch of salt
70 g egg whites (about 2 medium eggs)
10 g egg yolk (half a yolk)
25 g hazelnut paste

Coffee Chantilly
80 g heavy cream
12 g gelatin mass
110 g white chocolate
160 g heavy cream
5 g instant coffee in granules (1 tbsp + 1 tsp)

Equipment
For the big cake: round baking ring, 20 cm in diameter
For the small cakes: 4 round baking rings, 8 cm in diameter
Pastry bag fitted with a smooth round 1 cm piping tip

The recipe makes: 1 hazelnut cake and 4 small cute ones

Advance prep

Gelatin mass: Sprinkle gelatin powder over the water, mix well and keep in the fridge for at least half an hour. Cut into small pieces before use.

Peel & roast hazelnuts: Roast about 300 g hazelnuts in a preheated oven to 180 °C / 355 °F for about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and pour hazelnuts on top a clean towel. Cover with the towel and rub the hazelnuts until most of them are peeled. Let cool at room temperature and then weigh the amount needed. For more ways to peel hazelnuts, check out this post.

Hazelnut praliné

Make caramel: Put water and then sugar in a saucepan. Place on medium heat. Stir the sugar with a spatula to dissolve it. Once the water starts to boil, stop stirring and remove the spatula. Keep on medium heat until you get an ember – light brown color. (You may slightly tilt the saucepan now and then to get a more uniform heating).

Important (!) The more you cook the caramel, the darker the color will be. The caramel might become bitter.

Once you reach the desired color, remove the saucepan from heat. Immediately add hazelnuts and salt to the saucepan. Mix until all hazelnuts are covered in a thin layer of caramel. Pour the caramelized hazelnuts and all the remaining caramel onto a baking paper (no need to separate them just yet). Let them cool at room temperature.

Break the chunk of hazelnuts into smaller pieces and transfer to a small food processor. Grind in short pulses until you obtain a powder and then grind again at high speed until you get a creamy hazelnut paste. Scrape the sides occasionally. The process could take up to 10 minutes. Weigh 80 g of praliné and put it in a bowl. Keep the rest in the fridge for some other use.

Bring heavy cream to a boil. Pour immediately over the praliné and mix well. Keep in the fridge for at least an hour or until the cream is firm enough for spreading and piping.

Hazelnut crunch

Place hazelnuts and flour in a food processor. Grind them to a powder. Be careful not to grind it too much otherwise you’ll get a paste. Transfer the powder to the mixer bowl. Add soft butter cubes, brown sugar and salt. Attach the paddle attachment and mix on low-medium speed until dough is formed.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place it between two parchment papers. Roll out (or actually, spread) the dough with a rolling pin to a thickness of 3 mm. Keep in the freezer until set (about 15 minutes). Preheat oven to 150 °C / 300 °F.

Using the big ring, cut out one big circle. Using the small ring, cut out 4 small circles. Place the cut outs on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool at room temperature.

Place the 20 cm ring around the big cut out. Place the 8 cm rings around the small cut outs. Keep aside. Make sure the baking sheet is straight and doesn’t warp during baking.

Hazelnut paste

Grind hazelnuts in a small food processor until you get a creamy paste. Scrape the sides and bottom occasionally. Transfer 25 g of the paste into a small bowl and keep aside. Keep the rest in the fridge for some other use.

Hazelnut biscuit

Place hazelnuts, almond powder and powdered sugar in a food processor. Grind them for about half a minute to get a powder. Be careful not to grind it too much otherwise you’ll get a paste. Transfer the powder to medium bowl. Keep aside. Preheat oven to 160 °C / 320 °F.

French meringue: Whip 65 g egg whites in a mixer on medium speed until thick white foam is formed. While still whipping at medium speed, add sugar gradually and slowly. After all sugar is added, increase speed to high and whip until you get a strong and firm meringue (otherwise the batter will be too runny and will leak from the ring, as you can see in above photos).

In the meantime, melt the butter. Add potato flour and salt to the powders and mix. Add the rest of the egg whites and the yolk as well and whisk it all together. Finally, Add the hazelnut paste and whisk again. Transfer a table spoon from the mixture to the melted butter. Mix well and return it back to the mixture. Whisk well.

Fold the meringue into the mixture in two parts using a whisk. Weigh 250 g of the batter and pour it into the big ring. Pour the rest of the batter in the small rings up to 2/3 of their height. If needed, flatten the surface using a small offset spatula. Place immediately in the oven. Bake for about 20-22 minutes, until the edge of the biscuit starts to separate from the ring.

Remove from oven and go over the sides of the ring with a knife. Cool at room temperature. Release the biscuits from the ring. Remove parchment paper from the bottom of the biscuits. Transfer to a serving plate and keep in the fridge until assembly.

Coffee Chantilly

Break the chocolate into small pieces and put them in a bowl. Put 80 g heavy cream in a tea kettle and add coffee. Bring it to a boil while stirring to melt the coffee. Remove from heat. Add gelatin mass and mix well.

Pour immediately over chocolate. Mix with a whisk from the center of the bowl until the mixture is uniform. Pour the rest of the heavy cream in a thin stream while whisking all along.

Cover the surface with plastic wrap. Keep in the freezer for 15 minutes and then in the fridge until it’s cold enough for whipping.

Put it all together!

Remove the praliné from the fridge. Spread a thin layer of praliné over the biscuits, but leave the edges clean. Remove the chantilly from the fridge. Whip it on high speed until you almost get soft peaks (beware not to over whip, the goal is to get a texture that resembles very thick yogurt).

Fit a pastry bag with a 1 cm tip and fill it with the chantilly. Keep in the fridge for about 10 minutes until the chantilly is firm enough for piping.

Pipe small mounds of chantilly on top of the biscuits, outside in. Fit a pastry bag with a 4 mm tip and fill it with the remainder of the praliné. Pipe little droplets between some of the chantilly mounds.

If you like, you may sprinkle cocoa powder on top, but I found that to be unnecessary. Keep the hazelnut cake in the fridge in an airtight container.

The post Hazelnut Cake with Coffee Chantilly appeared first on Cake Lab

If there’s one good thing to come out of this horrible year, it’s these cakes. The loneliness (more like the isolation) and the inability to travel and relax this summer gave birth to a dream destination cake: a tropical island in the middle of an ocean. I too gave in to this year’s trend. I recommend setting aside three days to make this island cake. Don’t worry, it’s not intense, except for the second day. At least it’s something to do in our new lockdown here.

I made my dad a Turkey-themed island cake for his birthday last week. Before the pandemic, he’d fly to Turkey about every month or two. It became a kind of second home for him. Truth be told, the last time he came back was the same evening the first lockdown began earlier this year. He landed an hour after the deadline for anyone returning from abroad to go into isolation. Just his luck.

This summer,

the internet exploded with ocean or island cakes, every one of them spectacular. I watched a ton of YouTube videos, but there was one island cake I liked most of all, by chef Hugo Fernandez. Besides his cool lighthouse, I loved that his ocean is built into the cake and doesn’t wrap around the whole cake, which reduces the risk of liquid Jell-O escaping the cake and causing a catastrophe in the fridge.

So I followed his instructions and made my own. I don’t know Spanish, but Google Translate kindly provided reasonable English subtitles. I was fascinated by the whole process until I burst out laughing at the end. When Hugo finished his cake, both his hands enter the frame and clap for the cake. But seriously now, well done sir. It deserves all the applause in the world. Both your island cake and your red bowtie.

So How do you eat something like that? If you like Jell-O, you’ll have no problem. When I was growing up my mother would make glasses of red and yellow Jell-O with strawberries and grapes inside. It was so good. For this cake I made the Jell-O with grape flavoring. 

Speaking of Jell-O, most of the island cakes online call for enormous amounts of gelatin in the Jell-O. You can see how stable their Jell-O is when they cut or rotate the cake.

Hugo, and I of course, made a softer Jell-O that is a bit reminiscent of the Jell-O of my childhood. It jiggles. If you come upon an island cake with an ocean as stable as the cake itself and resembling silicone implants, stay away. You can also just remove the Jell-O from your piece of cake and enjoy a delicious chocolate cake with layers of rich chocolate ganache.

Some notes on a deserted island

* Usually, crushed biscuits are used for the tropical island effect. The crushed biscuits are divided in two portions and each portion is then colored in a different shade of green. Well, my Sicilian pistachios are very green, so I grounded roasted pistachios and raw pistachios and got two different shades of green.

* Uncolored crushed biscuits are usually used for the sandy beach. I replaced that with blanched almond powder and it worked out great.

* You can color the ocean in a gradient of teal. To do that, you have to divide the liquid Jell-O into three portions (about 400 g each portion) before coloring. Color one portion in teal, the second portion in a lighter color of teal and leave the third portion clear. When it’s time to pour the Jell-O, pour the darker color first. Keep in the fridge until almost set but still liquid, about 5 minutes (be careful, if the Jell-O is fully set, you’ll get a dividing line between each later). Repeat the process with the lighter color and then the clear color.

* You can decorate the bottom of the ocean with whatever you can think of. I didn’t try, but I read that fondant might expand in the Jell-O and its color my seep out. So I used modeling chocolate (I had leftovers from the little mermaid cake). I created corals and seaweeds and attached them to the bottom.

Ingredients

Chocolate ganache
400 g dark chocolate
400 g heavy cream

Chocolate cake
420 g flour
120 g cocoa powder
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
580 g sugar
1½ tsp salt
3 large eggs
150 g canola oil
1½ tsp vanilla extract
335 g milk
300 g boiling water
1½ tsp instant coffee (in granules or powder)

Gelatin mass
40 g gelatin powder
250 ml lukewarm water (1cup)

Jell-O
750 ml boiling water (3 cups)
300 g sugar
1.5 tsp citric acid
Gelatin mass
1 tbsp grape extract (or any other flavor)
Teal food coloring (or blue)

Decoration
50 g white chocolate
White food coloring
Shelled pistachios
Blanched almond powder
Red & Green modeling chocolate (optional)

Equipment
A round baking pan, 20 cm wide and 10 cm high
Adjustable cake ring
Small offset spatula
Acetate strip, 70 cm long & at least 12 cm high
Paint brushes
Thermometer (optional)
100 g fondant (optional)
Wide duct tape
Pastry bag fitted with a smooth 3 mm tip
Pitcher
Blow drier

DAY 1

Chocolate ganache

Break the chocolate into small pieces and put them in a bowl. Bring heavy cream to a boil. Pour immediately over chocolate, making sure all the chocolate is covered. Leave it for about half a minute to a minute and then mix it until uniform. (Use a hand blender to blend it to a more uniform consistency if you got one).

Cover the surface with plastic wrap. Let the ganache cool at room temperature for a few good hours (or even overnight) until it gets to a creamy spreadable texture.

Chocolate cake

Lightly grease the baking pan with oil. Line the pan with parchment paper by cutting a circle, 20 cm in diameter for the bottom, and a rectangle to fit the sides of the pan.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl. Add sugar and salt. Mix until uniform. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 175º C (350º F). Whip the eggs on medium speed until you get a foamy texture. Add canola oil and vanilla extract and mix until uniform. Bring water to a boil.

Add a third of the powder mixture to the egg batter and mix until uniform. Please note (!) Once the flour is combined in the batter, do not over mix. Add half of the milk and mix again, then add another third of the powders and mix. Add the rest of the milk and mix. Finally, add the rest of the powders and mix until the batter is uniform.

Add instant coffee to the boiling water. Mix well and add carefully to the batter. Mix again until uniform. Pour the batter into the baking pan. If possible, wrap a strip of a damp towel around the baking pan to get a more uniform bake.

Bake

Put the baking pan in the oven and bake for 60-70 minutes. Stick a toothpick in a crack in the center of the cake to check if it’s ready. The toothpick should come out almost dry, with just a bit of crumbs.

Remove the pan from the oven and keep the cake at room temperature for about 10 minutes before releasing from the pan. Let the cake cool completely at room temperature and then keep in the fridge until ready to cut. (The cake can be kept in the fridge for about a week or in the freezer for about a month)

DAY 2

Cut the cake into 3 layers, each layer 3 cm high, with a large serrated knife or a saw. To get a straight clean cut, keep turning the cake and cut first from the sides then slowly advance to the center of the cake.

Spread a little bit of ganache in the center of a serving plate. Place the first cake layer on the plate. Weigh 200 g from the chocolate ganache and spread it over the cake. Flatten the surface with a spatula. Keep in the freezer for about 10 minutes until the ganache is set.

Place the second cake layer over the cake. Weigh another 200 g from the ganache and spread it on top. Keep in the fridge for another 10 minutes until the ganache is set. Place the third cake layer over the cake. Keep in the fridge until set (30-60 minutes).

Using a serrated knife, cut a big indentation on the side of the cake, as you can see in this video. Start by cutting small pieces first and little by little advance inwards. Leave a layer of cake in the bottom to serve as a base for the Jell-O. Put the cake leftovers in the mixer bowl.

Mix

Attach the paddle attachment to the mixer. Mix on low-medium speed until you get a moist kind of dough (similar to cake pops batter). If the mixture is too dry and doesn’t come together, add a small amount of chocolate spread (or whatever you find in the kitchen) and mix.

Basically, the cake leftovers already contain layers of chocolate ganache in them and that’s supposed to make the mixture come together without the addition of any spread.

With clean hands, create mountains and hills from the mixture (gently, don’t press the mixture too hard, otherwise it will come out too dense). Spread a thin layer of ganache on top of the cake. Assemble the hills on one side of the cake to create a crescent island. Create underwater hills if you like.

Make sure the ganache is spreadable (if not, soften it a little on a double boiler). Using a small offset spatula, spread the ganache over the entire cake (it creates a sort of protective layer for the cake so that it won’t absorb the liquid Jell-O when pouring it).

While spreading the ganache, try to create a texture of horizontal straight lines, especially underwater.

Keep the cake in the fridge (or even in the freezer) until the ganache is set. Fit a pastry bag with a smooth 3 mm tip and fill it with the ganache leftovers. Keep aside.

Melt white chocolate. Using a small paint brush, gently spread white chocolate against the direction of the ganache lines. This way you highlight the texture with white. Keep in the fridge until the chocolate is set.

This is where the fun begins

You may decorate the bottom of the sea with whatever comes to mind. I didn’t try, but I read that fondant might expand in the Jell-O and its color my seep out. So I used modeling chocolate. I created corals and seaweeds and attached them to the bottom.

Pipe a strip of ganache around the cake, about 1 cm from the bottom. Attach the acetate strip around the cake (make sure the connection line is behind the island and not on the Jell-O side). Use duct tape to tape it together. Set the adjustable cake ring around the cake and fasten it well.

Important (!) the most critical part in this island cake is to make sure it’s completely sealed so that the Jell-O won’t leak out. Some people tape the bottom of the ring to the base (all around it). I used a wide fondant strip that I attached to the bottom.

Also, I taped the ring and the acetate strip together from the outside. Finally, I piped a strip of chocolate ganache in the indentation, on the edge of the cake where it touched the acetate strip, so that the Jell-O won’t leak out of the edge.

Gelatin mass

Sprinkle gelatin powder over the water, mix well and keep in the fridge for at least half an hour. The gelatin should hydrate and absorb most or all of the water before you continue to the next step.

Jell-O

Make sure the gelatin absorbed most of the water. Cut the gelatin mass into small pieces and keep aside. Start boiling water.

Put sugar in a big bowl (I used the mixer bowl). Pour hot water into the bowl and mix to dissolve the sugar. Add gelatin mass and mix again until it melts.

Add citric acid and flavor extract to the bowl and mix. Dip a toothpick in the food coloring and then in the liquid Jell-O (just a slight touch). Mix well. It’s better to start with a lighter color and add more if needed. The color should be relatively clear. The deeper the color, the less visible the sunken part of the cake will be.

Let the Jell-O cool at room temperature. You want the temperature of the Jell-O to drop to 32 °C / 90 °F before you pour it on the cake, otherwise it might melt the ganache. Transfer the liquid Jell-O into a pitcher. Using a Spatula, remove big air bubbles if you see any.

Pour the first layer of Jell-O in the cake indentation, about 1 cm high. Keep in the fridge until it’s almost set, about 5-10 minutes. Make sure it’s still liquid though when you remove it from the fridge (if the Jell-O is completely set, you’ll get lines between the layers). Pour the rest of the Jell-O, up to the desired height. Keep in the fridge for at least 3 hours (preferably overnight).

DAY 3

The moment of truth is here. Remove the cake from the fridge. Remove the duct tape and the fondant from around the cake ring. Release the ring. Remove the piece of the tape from the connection line of the acetate strip.

Using a blow drier, warm the Jell-O side a little bit for an easier release of the acetate strip. Gently release the strip. If the Jell-O still sticks to the strip, warm it a little bit more with the blow drier.

Grind pistachio into a powder (or crush biscuits, divide in two portions and color each portion a different shade of green). Place plastic wrap over the Jell-O. Decorate the top of the mountains with green powder (dark green op top, lighter green underneath).

Spread almond powder (or uncolored crushed biscuits) in a thin strip at the bottom of the mountain alongside the Jell-O to create a tiny beach.

Using a small paint brush, paint a stripe of white food coloring along the beach (I only had white food coloring in powder so I mixed it with alcohol and used it). Using a clean paint brush, pull the white stripe towards the ocean to dilute the stripe and create a wave effect. Draw more parallel waves if you like.

Keep your island cake in the fridge in an airtight container up to a week. When you feel like travelling, remove the cake from the fridge, dip a large knife in hot water and wipe it dry. Cut a slice of a dreamy vacation. It’s best if you lest the ganache soften at room temperature (for about 10 minutes) before you take a bite.

The post Island Cake appeared first on Cake Lab

I know, another post dedicated entirely to pistachios. I know, there are other ingredients in the world, as Oren likes to say. But you know, I have another 3 kg of emerald Sicilian Bronte pistachios in the pantry and this pandemic lockdown calls for using them all. Last week I made an out of this world pistachio tart (thanks Mor!), which led me to make this pistachio version of the hazelnut succès that I made somewhere at the beginning of this blog.

It’s nice to return to old recipes. To see how my mind once worked, and to discover how my baking has improved. A recipe that was once nerve-wracking has become easy. I love this succès. It’s a dessert that takes a certain nut and celebrates it in every layer, from the base to the decorative crown. I made it once with hazelnuts and once with walnuts, but this one is my favorite variation.

In the hazelnut succès, I combined homemade Nutella spread with mousseline cream. We’ve grown up since. This time I used praliné. But not just any hazelnut praliné. Pistachio praliné! A lot of friends have been talking recently about pistachio praliné and the idea worked its way into my brain. It’s ridiculous how delicious it is. I need to think of other desserts with pistachio praliné. Or maybe I should just make it and eat it with a spoon.

Ingredients

Pistachio praliné
150 g shelled pistachio
30 g water
110 g sugar
A pinch of salt

Pistachio mousseline cream
250 g milk
60 g egg yolk (about 4 medium egg yolks)
60 g sugar
20 g corn starch
60 g butter (cut into cubes)
60 g softened butter (cut into cubes)

230 g Pistachio praliné

Pistachio dacquoise
30 g flour
120 g shelled pistachios
100 g powdered sugar
145 g egg white (about 4 medium egg whites)
55 g sugar

Caramelized pistachios *
70 g shelled pistachios
60 g water
100 g sugar

+ A little powdered sugar for dusting

Equipment
Pastry bags
Smooth piping tip, 10 mm in diameter

* Caramelized pistachios look good on the succès. It’s a beautiful decoration, but to be honest, it makes cutting the succès a little harder, not to mention how time consuming it is to make. In retrospect, I should have just used roasted pistachios instead.

Pistachio praliné

Roast pistachios: Preheat the oven to 160 °C / 320 ºF. Scatter the pistachios on a baking tray and roast for about 7 minutes until they brown a bit. Remove from oven and chill at room temperature before use.

Make caramel: Put water and then sugar in a saucepan. Place on medium heat. Stir the sugar with a spatula to dissolve it. Once the water starts to boil, stop stirring and remove the spatula. Keep on medium heat until you get an ember – light brown color. (You may slightly tilt the saucepan now and then to get a more uniform heating).

Important (!) The more you cook the caramel, the darker the color will be. The caramel might become bitter.

Once you reach the desired color, remove the saucepan from heat. Add pistachios and salt to the saucepan. Mix until all pistachios are covered in a thin layer of caramel. Pour the caramelized pistachios and all the remaining caramel onto a baking paper (no need to separate them just yet). Let them cool down at room temperature.

Break the chunk of pistachios into smaller pieces and transfer to a small food processor. Grind in short pulses until you obtain a powder and then grind again at high speed until you get a creamy pistachio paste. Scrape the sides occasionally. The process could take up to 10 minutes. Transfer the praliné into a medium bowl.

Pistachio mousseline cream

Begin warming milk in a small pot. Add about a third of the sugar to the milk. Add the rest of the sugar to the egg yolks and whisk immediately. Add corn starch and whisk again.

Once the milk starts to boil, remove from heat and pour into the yolk-sugar mix while whisking all along. Pour the mixture through a sieve back to the saucepan (to get rid of egg chunks that may have hardened while adding the hot milk). Heat on medium heat and whisk constantly until the mixture thickens and becomes creamy.

Remove from heat and transfer the mixture immediately to the bowl containing the pistachio praliné. Whisk until uniform. Add the cubes of butter (not the softened one) and stir until uniform. Lay plastic wrap on top of the cream. Keep in the freezer for 15 minutes, and then in the fridge until the cream is cold (prepare the dacquoise in the meantime).

Pistachio dacquoise

Draw a 22 cm circle on two parchment papers and place each one on a baking tray with the drawn circle side down. Preheat the oven to 180 °C / 360 °F.

Grind flour, pistachios and powdered sugar together in a food processor for about half a minute only until you get a powder. Be careful not to grind too much to avoid getting a puree. Sift into a bowl. Put any remaining large chunks in the processor and grind again.

French meringue: Whip egg whites in a mixer on medium speed until thick white foam is formed. While still whipping at medium speed, add sugar gradually and slowly. After all sugar is added, increase speed to high and whip until you get a strong and firm meringue.

Transfer one third of the pistachio powder mix to the meringue and fold with a spatula. Add the remaining powder mix and continue to fold until uniform. Fit a pastry bag with a 10 mm smooth piping tip and fill it with the meringue. Attach the parchment paper unto the tray with a little meringue on the corners.

For the crown, pipe adjacent circles, 3.5 cm diameter each, one by one within the bounds of the circle drawn on the parchment paper, leaving a relatively large hole in the center to be used for decoration at the end. For the bottom, pipe a spiral shape that begins from the center and ends at the perimeter of the circle drawn on the second parchment paper.

Place the two trays in the oven (crown below, bottom above) and bake for 15-25 minutes until the edges begin to brown (the bottom will be ready before the crown). Remove from oven and let them cool to room temperature before assembly.

Assembly

Remove the mousseline cream from the fridge. Whip the cream for about 3-5 minutes. Simultaneously, add the soft butter cubes (creamy texture) gradually until the cream is uniform and smooth. Fit a pastry bag with a 10 mm smooth tip and fill it with the cream.

Flip the dacquoise crown and bottom and release the baking parchment from them. Place the flipped dacquoise bottom on a serving plate. Using the mousseline cream, pipe adjacent circles on the outskirts of the dacquoise bottom and fill up the center by piping the cream in a spiral shape.

Place the dacquoise crown on top of the cream. Keep in the fridge for at least two hours before serving. The flavors will be better combined and the dacquoise will soften during that rest time.

Decoration: caramelized pistachios

The Sicilian pistachios I used are well covered with a thin purple peel. Had I used regular pistachios, I would have just skipped peeling them.

Peel the pistachios: To remove the peel, fill a pan with 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat and add a cup of pistachios (about 140g). Keep aside for about 4 minutes. Strain the pistachios from the hot water and rinse in cold water. Peel the pistachios one by one by pinching them with your fingers.

Roast the pistachios: Preheat the oven to 160 °C / 320 ºF. Scatter the pistachios on a baking tray and roast for about 12-14 minutes until they brown a bit. Remove from oven and chill at room temperature before use.

Make Caramel:

Put water and then sugar in a saucepan. Place on medium heat. Stir the sugar with a spatula to dissolve it. Once the water starts to boil, stop stirring and remove the spatula. Keep on medium heat until you get an ember – light brown color. (You may slightly tilt the saucepan now and then to get a more uniform heating).

Important (!) The more you cook the caramel, the darker the color will be. The caramel might become bitter.

Once you reach the desired color, remove the saucepan from heat. Add pistachios and salt to the saucepan. Mix until most of the pistachios are covered with a thin layer of caramel.

Using a fork, remove pistachios one by one (or a few of them together), from the saucepan and place them on a parchment paper. The more you separate them, the easier it will be to cut into the succès.

Cool the caramelized pistachios in room temperature. Sift the powdered sugar over the succès and then place the caramelized pistachios in the center on top of the cream. Cut into slices and serve with a cup of coffee. Keep in the fridge for about 2 days.

The post Pistachio Succès with Pistachio Praliné appeared first on Cake Lab

I was in love with Milky pudding long before the famous Sandy Bar Milky commercial in Israel. Every day before school, I would have one Milky waiting for me in the fridge to sweeten my day. I know, I know, not the healthiest breakfast, but this was my childhood.

Milky is a chocolate custard with fluffy whipped cream on top. To this day, every time I go visit my parents, there’s always a Milky waiting for me in the fridge, and that Milky is all mine (though my nephews try to steal it from me now and then).

Like any other kid, my nephews and nieces love Kinder Surprise eggs. They actually enjoy eating it more than playing with the surprise toy inside. When my dear niece Nadine turned three, I decided to make a little dream of theirs (mine) come true.

I created Kinder eggs with a yummy surprise inside. And what’s tastier than chocolate pudding with whipped cream inside a chocolate Kinder egg? (Don’t answer, that’s a rhetorical question).

I must admit, it’s a demanding process. You must temper white chocolate and milk chocolate twice in a row just to get 8 Kinder eggs (the mold makes 4 eggs). Then, you have to attach the egg halves, cut their heads and make them stand (by tempering chocolate yet again).

Plastic cups

That’s why I eventually decided to make more of the pudding and just fill plastic cups with it. Fortunately, I managed to find egg shaped plastic cups!

At the party, all the adults snatched the Milky in the chocolate eggs and left the Milky in the plastic cups for the kids. I guess they couldn’t control the kid inside of them. Oh well, at least everyone was happy.

If you like, you can upgrade these eggs by grinding Oreo cookies and sprinkling the topping on the pudding before piping the whipped cream.

Oh, speaking of whipped cream. Since I discovered how delicious it is combining mascarpone cheese and heavy cream together, I can’t go back to regular whipped cream. However, the final texture always comes out so grainy. Not anymore! I found this video on YouTube that suggested adding condensed milk for a smoother, silkier texture.

Ingredients

Chocolate eggs
600 g milk chocolate
600 g white chocolate

Chocolate custard
120 g milk
120 g heavy cream
60 g egg yolk
15 g sugar
150 g milk chocolate
25 g dark chocolate 60%

Mascarpone Chantilly
60 g mascarpone
35 g sweetened condensed milk
20 g powdered sugar
120 g heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla paste

Equipment
Wide spatula
Polycarbonate mold with 4 egg shaped sockets
Thermometer
Pastry bag fitted with a 1 cm star tip

The recipe makes 8 chocolate eggs

Chocolate eggs

Before you begin, clean the mold thoroughly with water and a soft sponge (be careful not to scratch it). Dry the mold with a kitchen towel. For a more serious clean-up, use alcohol.

Temper milk chocolate following this post (best to temper it to 29 °C / 84 °F in this case). Fill a pastry bag with the tempered chocolate. Cut a small opening at the edge (about 1 cm). Quickly fill all the sockets in the mold. Tap the mold lightly on the surface to get rid of air bubbles.

Turn the mold over and let the chocolate drip onto the surface (or onto a baking paper for an easy assembly once the chocolate has set) while tapping on the side of the mold with a wide spatula.

At the end of the process you should get a nice thin layer of chocolate in the sockets. Turn over the mold quickly and clean the excess chocolate using the wide spatula. Keep aside letting the chocolate set.

Temper white chocolate following this post (best to temper it to 28 °C / 82 °F in this case). Fill a pastry bag with the tempered chocolate. Cut a small opening at the edge. Quickly fill all the sockets in the mold, on top of the milk chocolate shell. Tap the mold lightly on the surface to get rid of air bubbles.

Turn the mold over and let the chocolate drip onto the surface (or onto a baking paper for an easy assembly once the chocolate has set) while tapping on the side of the mold with a wide spatula.

At the end of the process you should get a nice thin layer of chocolate in the sockets. Turn over the mold quickly and clean the excess chocolate using the wide spatula. Keep in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes until the chocolate has set.

Release

To release the chocolate eggs, turn over the mold and tap it lightly on the surface. The chocolate eggs should slip out easily (if the tempering was done properly). Sometimes you may need to help them out with a light push using your finger. Repeat the whole process to make 8 more chocolate egg halves (half shells).

Using a sharp knife mark a zigzag near the top of each egg half. Dip the knife in hot water and wipe it dry. Gently cut the chocolate egg following the zigzag marking. Whenever the knife gets cold, dip it back in hot water, wipe it and keep cutting.

Turn on the oven on low heat. Insert a clean baking tray and heat it lightly. Take it out of the oven. Place a chocolate egg half on the warm tray to melt the edges. Attach to halves together to get a whole egg with an open top.

Temper the rest of the milk chocolate. Fill a pastry bag with the tempered chocolate. Cut a small opening at the edge (about 1/2 cm). Pipe circles, 3 cm wide, on a parchment paper and place a chocolate egg on each one.

Chocolate custard

Break the chocolate into small pieces and put them in a measuring pitcher. Place a sieve on top.

Put milk, heavy cream, sugar and egg yolks in a saucepan and mix. Heat on medium heat up to a temperature of 78 °C / 172 °F (it’s ok to go a little higher, but not more than 84 °C / 183 °F), while mixing energetically, but gently, with a spatula to prevent the egg yolk from congealing (especially at the bottom of the saucepan). The mixture will thicken a little.

Remove from heat and pour immediately through a sieve into the measuring pitcher (to get rid of egg chunks that may have hardened while cooking). Mix a little bit with a spatula and then use a hand blender to blend it to a uniform consistency. Make sure the temperature of the custard is below 32 °C / 90 °F before proceeding.

Pour the custard into the chocolate eggs and fill them up to 1 cm below the top. Keep in the freezer until set (prepare the chantilly in the meantime).

Mascarpone chantilly

Put mascarpone cream, condensed milk and powdered sugar in the mixer bowl and whip well. The mixer won’t be able to bring it to a complete creamy texture. It will still be a little lumpy. To cream it, mix with a spatula and squash the lumps on the side of the mixer until uniform.

Add heavy cream and vanilla paste to the mixer. Whip until the mixture is smooth and stable. (Be careful not to over whip). Scrape the sides of the bowl now and then.

Transfer the frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a 1 cm star tip. Pipe small mounds of chantilly above the cream in each chocolate egg. Keep in the fridge up to 2-3 days. Serve with a spoon.

The post Chocolate Custard in Kinder Chocolate Eggs appeared first on Cake Lab

I know, it’s kinda late now, but this homemade Ferrero Rocher was perfect as a Valentine’s Day gift. In the spirit of the holiday, Natalie from Lil’ Cookie and I made this Ferrero Rocher with pistachios instead of hazelnuts. Natalie suggested this genius idea a day before our date to make my mom’s basbousa. We decided to try it out. To be honest, we didn’t expect it to turn out so well.

As it happens, it was a double celebration. My little blog celebrated its 3rd birthday last month. Happy blogiversary! In fact, I got to meet Natalie through it. Right at the beginning, the blog gave her a virtual wink and she showered it with love.

And so the celebration continues with this insane praline. Our pistachio Ferrero Rocher contains a whole pistachio at its core hiding underneath a smooth pistachio & milk chocolate cream, covered with dark chocolate and chopped pistachios.

We even added pailleté feuilletine to the mix for that classic Ferrero Rocher crunch. For the final touch, we decorated each praline with edible gold dust inspired by the iconic golden wrap. Happy Ferrero Rocher day!

Ingredients

Pistachio paste (can be store bought)
150 g shelled pistachios
25 g grapeseed oil (or any vegetable oil)

Filling
150 g pistachio paste
100 g milk chocolate
20 g honey
Pinch of salt
125 g heavy cream
20 g pailleté feuilletine*

24 whole shelled pistachios

Coating
350 g dark chocolate
20 g cocoa butter
30 g chopped pistachios

Decoration
Edible gold dust

Equipment
Mini half spheres (3cm in diameter) silicon mold

* Replace with 10g puffed rice for a gluten-free version.

The recipe makes about 24 pistachio Ferrero Rocher

Pistachio paste

Preheat the oven to 160 °C / 320 ºF. Scatter the pistachios on a baking tray and roast for about 7 minutes until they brown a bit.

After the pistachios have cooled, grind them to a powder in a small food processor. Add the oil and grind again until it becomes a paste. Weigh 150g and place it in a measuring pitcher.

Filling

Add milk chocolate, honey and a pinch of salt in the measuring pitcher. Bring heavy cream to a boil and pour it over chocolate, making sure all the chocolate is covered. Mix a little bit with a spatula and then use a hand blender to blend it to a uniform consistency.

Once the mixture cools at room temperature, add pailleté feuilletine and mix until uniform. Fill the cavities in the silicone mold. Add one whole shelled pistachio to half of the cavities and push it in. Flatten the surface of the filling. Keep in the freezer.

Half an hour to an hour later, the filling should be stable. At this stage you should work fast before the filling softens. Release the half-spheres from the mold.

Attach two half-spheres together (one with pistachio, one without) to create a whole sphere by rolling them in your hands. Put the chocolate spheres back in the freezer until they set again. In the meantime, prepare the coating.

Coating

Put dark chocolate and cocoa butter in a bowl and melt using a double boiler. Chop pistachios (in short pulses in a food processor or with a sharp knife) and add them to the chocolate bowl. Mix until uniform.

Using a fork, dip a frozen chocolate sphere in the melted chocolate. Remove and place it on a parchment paper to let the coating set. Repeat the process for the rest of the spheres.

Sprinkle a bit of edible gold dust on top of each pistachio Ferrero Rocher before the chocolate coating sets. Keep in a sealed container in the fridge.

The post Pistachio Ferrero Rocher appeared first on Cake Lab

I got a postcard from New York. Well, a greeting card kind of postcard. Loren, a good friend, and Oscar, his adorable dog, sent it. They used to live here once. On the postcard there’s a beautiful drawing of a classic lemon meringue pie. On the back, there’s a recipe. I love postcards, but this one spoke to my heart.

I really hoped that the recipe would be as wonderful as the postcard, but alas, it was a little disappointing. I didn’t give up and replaced the recipe with one of my own. Now everything is wonderful.

I have to admit, I love this recipe and I used it a few times before with slight changes. I made the same pie with the addition of berries, halva and pistachio, berries once more and now mint.

The postcard’s recipe doesn’t combine mint in the lemon cream, although the drawing is chock full of mint. So I added mint to the lemon cream and I transformed it into a fresh lemon mint cream.

However, the mint flavor wasn’t as strong as I wanted it to be after all. I guess I’ll have to make it stronger next time, or maybe add the mint to the cream some other way.

In the meantime, I’m happy the postcard came to life and that all the mint around the pies is justified. Thank Loren! Thanks Oscar! I’ll be waiting for my next delicious postcard. In the meantime, I’m sending you a virtual taste.

Ingredients

Pie Crust
175 g flour
20 g almond powder
65 g powdered sugar
2 g salt (½ tsp)
Zest from 1 lemon
100 g cold butter (cut into cubes)
45 g eggs

Lemon Mint Cream
150 g lemon juice
About 15 mint leaves (maybe even more)
210 g sugar
160 g eggs (about 3 eggs)
Zest from 1 large lemon
260 g soft butter

Swiss Meringue
135 g egg whites (from about 4 eggs)
240 g sugar
Pinch of salt

Decoration
Mint leaves

Equipment
5 pie forms, 11 cm diameter and 2 cm height (bottomless)
A pastry bag fitted with a 16 mm smooth tip
Thermometer
Burner

The recipe makes 5 fresh lemony pies

Pie Crust

Put flour, almond powder, powdered sugar, salt, lemon zest and butter cubes in the mixer bowl and keep in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Remove from fridge.

Using the paddle attachment, start mixing at low-medium speed until the batter reaches sand-like consistency. Make sure the butter chunks are as small as possible at the end of the process without melting the butter.

Add the eggs all at once and keep mixing at medium speed until the dough starts to form but is not yet completely uniform. Remove dough parts from the bowl and combine.

Cover dough with plastic wrap. Roll out the dough a little bit. Keep in the fridge for at least an hour. (It’s always better to prepare the dough in advance, the dough keeps for up to a week in the fridge and for about two-three months in the freezer.)

When the dough is stiff and cold, remove the plastic wrap and divide the dough into 5 equal-sized pieces (about 80g each piece). Leave one piece of dough on the counter top (in a cool room) and put the rest back in the fridge. Give the dough a circular shape.

Flour the work surface, place the dough on top and dust it with flour as well. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Keep turning the dough throughout and make sure it doesn’t stick to the surface. Roll out the dough to a 3-4 mm thickness.

Please note (!) If at any point the dough starts to soften, put it back in the fridge until it is stiff again.

Fonçage:

Place the pie form on a parchment paper and place the dough gently on top of it. Lift the edges of the dough, gently push the rest of the dough down and attach the edges to the sides of the form, starting from the bottom of the form to the top. Gently press down on the sides so that the corners at the bottom form a clear angle. (It’s not the end of the world if the dough gets torn accidentally. Just attach the sides that have been torn apart and move on).

Go over the top of the ring with a sharp knife and remove the excess dough. Prick the bottom of the pie crust with a fork and put it in the freezer. Repeat the process with the rest.

Blind baking:

Keep the pie crusts in the freezer until the dough is firm (about half an hour). Preheat the oven to 170 ºC / 340 ºF. Remove the pie crusts from the freezer and set them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Place the sheet in the oven and bake for 18 minutes until the pie crusts begin to brown. Set aside to cool. Release the pie crusts from the forms.

Lemon Mint Cream

Put lemon juice and mint leaves in a small pot. Bring it to a boil and remove from fire. Cover the pot with a plate. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Pass the lemon juice through a sieve and get rid of the mint leaves. Put sugar, lemon zest and eggs in a saucepan and whisk. While still whisking, add lemon juice to the saucepan.

Start warming on medium heat, while whisking all along to prevent the egg yolk from congealing. Once the mixture starts to thicken, remove from heat and pour the mixture through a sieve into a measuring pitcher.

As soon as the temperature reaches 55 °C / 130 °F, add the soft butter (gradually but quickly) and mix well. Grind with a hand blender to a uniform consistency.

Pour the cream immediately into the crusts to the end. Keep in the fridge for about half an hour to an hour to let the cream set.

Swiss meringue

Put egg whites, sugar and salt in a stainless steel bowl and whisk well. Warm the mixture on a double boiler (medium heat) while whisking all along to melt the sugar and pasteurize the egg whites.

Once the temperature reaches 60 ºC /140 ºF, lower the flame and keep whisking for about 5 more minutes (OR bring the temperature to 70 ºC /160 ºF and whisk for 1 minute).

Make sure the temperature doesn’t pass 75 ºC /165 ºF. (I just lower or turn off the flame accordingly and keep the temperature between 60-70 ºC / 140-160 ºF).

Remove from heat and strain immediately into the mixer bowl. Whip the mixture on maximum speed for about 5 minutes until the meringue is stable and shiny (stiff peaks).

Fit a pastry bag with a 16 mm smooth tip and fill it with the meringue. Pipe a spiral generously above each lemon mint pie. Using a spatula spread the meringue around to get a smoother look just like in the postcard. Keep in the fridge.

Just before serving, burn the meringue with a burner. Decorate with mint leaves and serve. Keep the lemon mint pies in a sealed container in the fridge up to two days.

The post Lemon Mint Meringue Pie appeared first on Cake Lab

Not long ago I got a gift – a Lebanese baking book full of interesting recipes and cool ideas. One of the recipes that popped out at me was a classic lemon tart with a twist. What twist? Halva! How does it work? It works perfectly!

The flavor starts lemony and ends up with a surprising halva flavored bite. I didn’t enjoy this tart (and this wonderful basbousa) all by myself. Natalie from the wonderful Lil’ Cookie blog helped prepare and taste this tart. We both agreed, lemon and halva is a match made in heaven.

The recipe here is a little lot different from the original one. The cream in this recipe is more subtle and smoother. The original crust contains pine nuts, which is a brilliant idea.

Unfortunately, the amount of pine nuts was so big that it made the dough too gooey to work with (not to mention how expensive it was). So we replaced it with a more stable crust with no pine nuts, but with lemon zest instead.

Finally, we took it a step further and added another layer, full of pistachios. I believe pistachios work nicely with lemon, and even more with halva. You may skip that extra layer if you’d like to shorten the process or want to taste the combination of lemon and halva more.

Ingredients

Crust
175 g flour
20 g almond powder
65 g powdered sugar
2 g salt (½ tsp)
Zest from 1 lemon
100 g cold butter (cut into cubes)
45 g eggs

Pistachio paste
150 g shelled pistachios
25 g grape seed oil (or vegetable oil)

Lemon halva cream
110 g lemon juice
150 g sugar
Zest from 1 lemon
2 large eggs (120 g)
100 g soft butter (at room temperature)
150 g halva

Decoration
Lemon zest
Chopped pistachios

Equipment
Rectangular ring, 30×10 cm big and 2.5 cm high
Hand blender
Measuring pitcher

Crust

Put flour, almond powder, powdered sugar, salt, lemon zest and butter cubes in the mixer bowl and keep in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Remove from fridge.

Using the paddle attachment, start mixing at low-medium speed until the batter reaches sand-like consistency. Make sure the butter chunks are as small as possible at the end of the process without melting the butter.

Add the eggs all at once and keep mixing at medium speed until the dough starts to form but is not yet completely uniform. Remove dough parts from the bowl and combine.

Cover dough with plastic wrap. Roll out the dough a little bit. Keep in the fridge for at least an hour. (It’s always better to prepare the dough in advance, the dough keeps for up to a week in the fridge and for about two-three months in the freezer.)

When the dough is stiff and cold, remove the plastic wrap. In a cool room, flour the work surface, place the dough on top and dust it with flour as well. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Keep turning the dough throughout and make sure it doesn’t stick to the surface. Roll out the dough to a 3-4 mm thickness.

Please note (!) If at any point the dough starts to soften, put it back in the fridge until it is stiff again.

Fonçage:

Lightly butter the inner side of the baking ring so that the dough sticks to it. Place the ring gently on top of the dough and cut a larger rectangle around the ring. Cut the corners of the dough as seen in the picture above. Place the ring on a parchment paper and place the dough gently on top of it.

Lift the edges of the dough, gently push the rest of the dough down and attach the edges to the sides of the ring, starting from the bottom of the ring to the top. Gently press down on the sides so that the corners at the bottom form a right angle. (It’s not the end of the world if the dough gets torn accidentally. Just attach the sides that have been torn apart and move on). Go over the top of the ring with a sharp knife and remove the excess dough.

 Blind baking:

Prick the bottom of the crust all over with a fork and keep in the freezer until the dough is stiff again (about half an hour). Preheat the oven to 160 ºC (320 ºF). When the desired temperature is reached, remove the crust from the freezer and set it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Line the crust with parchment paper. Fill the crust with pie weights or dry chickpeas (don’t forget the corners).

Place the sheet in the oven and bake for 17 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and gently remove the parchment paper containing the pie weights (be careful not to break the crust in the process). Put the crust back in the oven and bake for another 10-12 minutes until the crust begins to brown. Set aside to cool.

Brush the top of the crust against a flat mesh sieve to straighten the edges and give it a cleaner, sharper look.

Pistachio paste

Preheat the oven to 160 °C (320 ºF). Scatter the pistachios on a baking tray and roast for about 7 minutes until they brown a bit.After the pistachios have cooled, grind them to a powder in a small food processor. Add the oil and grind again until it becomes a paste.

Use half the amount of the pistachio paste and spread a thin layer of it at the bottom of the tart. Flatten the surface with a spoon. Keep the rest of the pistachio paste in a sealed container in the fridge.

Lemon halva cream

Crumble halva and put it in a measuring pitcher. Keep aside.

Add lemon juice, sugar, lemon zest and eggs in a saucepan and whisk. Start warming on medium heat, while whisking all along to prevent the egg yolk from congealing. Once the mixture starts to thicken, remove from heat and pour the mixture through a sieve into the measuring pitcher. Mix well.

Add the soft butter (gradually but quickly) and mix well. Grind with a hand blender to a uniform consistency. Pour the cream immediately into the crust and fill it up. Keep in the fridge for about an hour \to let the cream set.

Decoration

Remove the tart from the fridge. Decorate the top with lemon zest and chopped pistachios. Keep the lemon halva tart in the fridge in an airtight container up to 2 days.

The post Lemon Halva Tart appeared first on Cake Lab

I had the honor of baking with Lil’ Cookie a second time! Natalie, of the Lil’ Cookie blog, invited me to her house for a joint baking session. We baked wonderful confections, like a lemon halva tart and pistachio Ferrero Rochers.

The crème de la crème, without a doubt, was basbousa, or as it’s called in my home, nammoura. It’s a sweet and juicy semolina cake that my dear mom used to bake in my childhood (she still does). I arrived to Natalie’s with one mission in mind: to get a grip and use salt instead of sugar this time.

To be honest, a bit of salt wouldn’t hurt in this sugar-bombed cake. Nevertheless, mom did lower the amount of sugar over the years. In the past, her syrup would have 1 kilo (!) of sugar in it. Now it contains “just” half of the amount. I know, still a lot, but it’s fifty percent less. A friend that tasted this basbousa said that it’s actually less sweet than other basbousa squares he tried before.

Anyway, it was worth it going to Natalie’s, and not only for the nostalgic flashbacks from the basbousa. A big baking blogger like Natalie will always have something sweet to offer in her kitchen.

Seconds after I sat down, biscotti cookies, black sesame mousse and homemade Ta’ami were spread out in front of me. I was in heaven and got to take some of these forbidden fruits back home with me. Thanks Natalie!

Ingredients

Syrup
500 g sugar (2½ cups)
750 ml water (3 cups)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp orange blossom water

Basbousa
200 g butter
720 g semolina (4 cups)
50 flour (1/3 cup)
13 g baking powder (1½ tbsp)
10 g ground coconut (2 tbsp)
160 g sugar (2/3 cups)
260 g yogurt
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
20 g honey (1 tbsp)
A bit of raw tahini

Decoration
Shelled pistachios/almonds/pecans

Equipment
Standard baking tray (30×40 cm)

The recipe makes about 48 basbousa squares

Syrup

Put water, sugar and lemon juice in a pot. Bring to a boil on high heat and mix with a spatula to dissolve the sugar. Once the syrup starts to boil, stop mixing and keep boiling on high heat for another 7 minutes. Remove from heat, add orange blossom water and mix. Chill at room temperature.

Basbousa

Melt butter on low-medium heat and set aside. Spread a thin layer of raw tahini all over the baking pan (sides as well). Preheat oven to 190 °C / 375 °F.

Put semolina, flour, baking powder, ground coconut and sugar in a big bowl and mix. Put yogurt, egg, egg yolk and honey in a separate bowl and mix until uniform.

Make sure the melted butter is lukewarm and not hot. Pour the butter into the semolina mixture. Mix with a spatula and then lightly mix with your hands to air out the mixture until it’s moist but not packed.  

Add the egg mixture to the semolina mixture. Fold both mixtures together with a spatula until uniform.

Transfer the mixture to the baking tray. Set a little bowl of water next to it. Wet your hands and spread the mixture all over the surface of the tray. Flatten the surface. The mixture should be 1 cm thick.

Using a knife, mark horizontal and vertical lines on top of the mixture to get 5×5 cm squares. Decorate each square with one pistachio, or even three, and push them down a little bit into the mixture. Set aside for about 10 minutes at room temperature.

Place the tray in the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven. Immediately pour the lukewarm syrup over the basbousa. Let sit for about 20-30 minutes at room temperature until the basbousa absorbs all the syrup.

Cut the basbousa following the marked lines and serve immediately. Basbousa is at its best served warm just out of the oven. Otherwise, keep the basbousa in an airtight container up to two or three days at room temperature.

The post Mom’s Basbousa appeared first on Cake Lab

Last Christmas I prepared gingerbread cookies in the holiday spirit and decorated my plastic Christmas tree with them. That same week I traveled with the whole family to Turkey and celebrated Christmas there.

Not that we (or the Turks) celebrate this holiday, but we did enjoy the lights and decorations everywhere, the Christmas markets and that red stocking full of sweets hanging outside our hotel room door Christmas morning.

This Christmas I didn’t take out my tree from its box. I didn’t travel to Turkey with the family and didn’t even enjoy seeing Santa Claus walking on a high tightrope between two of the hotel towers (I guess there are no sleighs in Turkey).

Instead I stayed in Jerusalem and prepared a Christmas tree chocolate mousse which I decorated with colorful sprinkles and brought to Devora’s Hanukkah candle lighting. Oxymoron? Definitely, and I love it.

I’ve been imagining this festive Christmas tree chocolate mousse for a while now. I already created a Christmasy dessert once, a pistachio meringue fir tree on top of a raspberry chocolate tart. This time I wanted to create a more serious fir tree but didn’t know how exactly.

Eventually I figured it out.

The trick lies with ice cream cones. Yup, I covered ice cream cones with parchment paper from the inside, placed them in cups and filled them with chocolate mousse, and behold, a perfect conical mousse.

In my first attempt, I covered the mousse cones with green glaze to look like a sparkling green fir tree, as you see in this picture. Unfortunately, the glaze bent the trees and what resulted was a forest of bent crooked trees as if a strong northern wind blew right through them.

I tried again, but this time I gave up on the glaze. Well, my trees might have lost their green leaf color, but the magic is still there with every bite. Belated Merry Christmas!

Ingredients

Gelatin mass
4 g gelatin powder
20 g water

Dark chocolate mousse
3 large egg yolks (60 g)
½  a medium egg (25 g)
45 g sugar
30 g water
20 g gelatin mass
240 g dark chocolate
200 g heavy cream

Cookie
100 g flour
50 g powdered sugar
¼ tsp salt
40 g cold butter (cut into cubes)
1 large egg yolks (20 g)
1 tsp water
½ tsp vanilla paste

Dark chocolate ganache
50 g dark chocolate
50 g heavy cream

White chocolate ganache
50 g white chocolate
50 g heavy cream

Decoration
Coconut Flakes
Round sprinkles
Edible gold dust (optional)

Equipment
Thermometer
11 ice cream cones
Small plastic bags
11 small tea cups
Parchment paper cut into squares (about 15×15 cm)
Round cookie cutter, 5.5 cm diameter
Star shaped cookie cutter, 2 cm big
Pastry bag fitted with a 3 mm smooth tip
Pastry bag fitted with a 2 mm smooth tip
Paintbrush (optional)

The recipe makes 11 christmas tree chocolate mousse

Advance prep

Gelatin mass: Sprinkle gelatin powder over the water, mix well and keep in the fridge for at least half an hour. Cut into small pieces before use.

Ice cream cones: Cut parchment paper into squares about 15×15 cm. Roll each paper square into a cone and insert inside an ice cream cone. (If you desire to keep that sharp tip, put a piece of tape to hold the cone shape together, otherwise the cone will open up a bit inside the ice cream cone and lose its tip). Insert small plastic bags in tea cups. Place the ice cream cones inside them.

Dark chocolate mousse

Weigh all ingredients in advance. Place a sieve on top of the mixer bowl.

Pour heavy cream in a separate bowl and whip it until you almost get soft peaks (beware not to over whip, the goal is to get a texture that resembles thick yogurt). Keep in the fridge.

Melt dark chocolate on a double-boiler. Once the chocolate has melted, turn off the flame and set aside.

Put egg yolks, eggs, sugar and water in a stainless steel bowl and whisk until uniform. Place the bowl on a second double-boiler and heat gently (low-medium fire) to 80-82 ° C (176-180 ° F), while mixing all along.

Once the desired temperature is reached, strain the mixture immediately into the mixer bowl and whip on high speed for about 4-5 minutes, until the egg mixture cools. When you drop a spoonful of the mixture into the bowl it should fall back in ribbons and disappear into the mixture slowly.

In the meantime, melt the gelatin mass on a double-boiler and make sure the melted chocolate temperature is between 46-50 ° C (115-122 ° F). If the temperature is too low, reheat on a double boiler.

Add the melted gelatin mass to the egg mixture and mix a little. Add the warm chocolate and fold until uniform. The texture will become viscous. Remove the heavy cream from the fridge and whip it a little more (remember, yogurt texture).

Fold the heavy cream into the egg mixture in three parts. Pour immediately into the ice cream cones. Shake and tap it lightly on a surface to flatten the mousse. Keep in the freezer for a few good hours until the mousse sets.

Cookie

Put flour, powdered sugar, salt and butter cubes in the mixer bowl and keep in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Remove from fridge. Using the paddle attachment, start mixing at low-medium speed until the batter reaches sand-like consistency. Make sure the butter chunks are as small as possible at the end of the process without melting the butter.

Add egg yolk, vanilla and water all at once and keep mixing at medium speed until the dough starts to form but is not yet completely uniform. Remove dough parts from the bowl and combine together. Place the dough on parchment paper. Flatten the dough a little bit and lay another parchment paper on top.

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin between the two parchment papers to about 4 mm thickness. Keep turning the dough throughout. Place the dough with the parchment papers on a tray. Keep in the fridge for at least an hour.

When the dough is stiff and cold, remove the parchment papers and place the dough back on one of the papers. In a cool room, using a 5.5 cm round cookie cutter, cut out circles from the dough.

Place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Using the star shaped cookie cutter, cut out stars and place them on another tray. Keep in the freezer (or fridge) for about 10 minutes and preheat the oven to 175 ºC /345 ºF in the meantime.

Please note (!) If at any point the dough starts to soften, put it back in the fridge until it is stiff again.

Bake

Remove the cookies from the freezer and transfer them to another baking tray. Place the tray in the oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes until the edges begin to brown. Remove from the oven and cool at room temperature.

Putting it all together!

Remove chocolate mousse from the freezer (one at a time) and release it from the ice cream cone. Release the parchment paper. (Wear latex gloves to avoid touching the mousse with your bare hands.)

Using a sharp knife, remove the excess mousse from the bottom and make sure the mousse cone stands straight. Place the mousse cone on top of a cookie. Put back in the freezer.

Dark chocolate ganache

Break chocolate into pieces and put it in a measuring pitcher or a bowl. Bring heavy cream to a boil and pour it immediately over chocolate. Give it half a minute and then mix it with a spatula until uniform. Pour the ganache into a pastry bag fitted with a round 3 mm tip.

Remove one mousse from the freezer. While turning the cookie, pipe a strip/line of chocolate ganache in a spiral form from the top of the mousse to the bottom. Do this step while the chocolate is still warm, otherwise you won’t get that cool drippy effect. Keep in the fridge.

White chocolate ganache

Break chocolate into pieces and put it in a measuring pitcher or a bowl. Bring heavy cream to a boil and pour it immediately over chocolate. Give it half a minute and then mix it with a spatula until uniform. Pour the ganache into a pastry bag fitted with a round 2 mm tip.

Remove one mousse from the fridge. While turning the cookie, pipe a thin strip/line of chocolate ganache in a spiral form at the top. Keep in the fridge (preferably in an airtight container).

Decoration

If you want to add some glimmer to the tree, brush a bit of edible gold dust over the stars. Place a star on every tree top.

Decorate the trees with sprinkles. Using a sieve, sprinkle coconut flakes on the christmas tree chocolate mousse for a snowy effect that doesn’t melt in the fridge.

The post Christmas Tree Chocolate Mousse appeared first on Cake Lab

Merry Christmas! This year Hanukkah and Christmas fell on the same week. Although I don’t technically celebrate either of them, I made sufganiot (jelly doughnuts) and gingerbread cookies. Why settle for one holiday (or none at all) when you can celebrate all of them? As long as I have something to keep me distracted from the Jerusalem cold that’s starting to get on my nerves. At least winter here is just a transition season.

I already wrote about gingerbread in the past. Every time I do more research on it, I get confused even more. The world of gingerbread cookie lovers is divided in two: Those who love their cookie soft and chewy and those who look for that crunchy sound between their teeth. I actually never tasted a gingerbread cookie I didn’t make, so it was a little hard to make a decision.

Eventually I found myself preparing both versions.

In fact it’s the same dough. The difference lies in the rolling out of the dough and baking time. Thick dough and a shorter baking time will produce a soft cookie that crumbles in the mouth.

Thin dough and a longer baking time will produce a crunchy cookie that is also fun to dip in a glass of tea or milk. Inspired by the previous recipe, I added pistachio brittle to the crunchy cookie. I find both versions tasty, especially right out of the oven while they’re still warm and spicy.

You may design the cookie in any form imaginable. I decided to keep things close to home and made Hamsa shaped gingerbread cookies. You know, to fend off bad juju. For the crunchy cookies, I looked for a Hamsa shaped cookie cutter and all I found was a useless waving hand cookie cutter.

So I decided to create my own stencil which made the job a little more difficult than expected, but I was pretty happy with the outcome. For the soft cookies, I was able to find a silicone pan with Hamsa shaped sockets.

Thanks to Ran Shneck for that great photo above.

Gingerbread Dough

200 g flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp cloves
1½ tsp ground ginger
1½ tsp cinnamon
A good pinch of coarse sea salt
70 g dark brown sugar
60 g cold butter (cut into cubes)
½ tsp vanilla paste
25 g eggs (½ a medium)
80 g honey

Equipment
Silicone mold with Hamsa shaped sockets
Hamsa shaped cookie cutter, 8×6 cm
Or Hamsa shaped stencil

The recipe makes about 15-16 Hamsa cookies

Gingerbread dough

Put flour, baking powder, baking soda, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, salt, sugar and butter cubes in the mixer bowl and keep in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Remove from fridge. Using the paddle attachment, start mixing at low-medium speed until the batter reaches sand-like consistency. Make sure the butter chunks are as small as possible at the end of the process without melting the butter.

Add vanilla and eggs all at once and then add the honey. Keep mixing at medium speed until the dough starts to form but is not yet completely uniform. Remove dough parts from the bowl and combine. Cover dough in plastic wrap. Roll out the dough just a little bit. Keep in the fridge for at least an hour.

Soft gingerbread cookies

You might have to lightly grease or flour the sockets in the silicone pan. I skipped this part and I manage to easily release the cookies from the pan. Divide the dough into balls the size of 25 g each (3 cm in diameter). Place the balls of dough in the sockets of the pan and flatten the surface with a clean finger. The layer should be about 7-8 cm thick.

Keep in the fridge and preheat the oven to 175 °C (350 °F). Place the baking tray in the oven. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until the edge starts to brown. Remove from the oven and set it aside to cool.

Release the cookies from the pan gently and carefully (They’re easy breakable since they’re so soft). Keep the Hamsa cookies in an airtight container for up to 2-3 days.

Crunchy gingerbread cookies

Prepare the dough and keep in the fridge for about an hour. Prepare the pistachio brittle in the meantime:

Pistachio brittle

40 g sugar
15 g honey
40 g heavy cream
Zest from half a lemon
40 g chopped pistachios

Put honey, heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan. Place on medium heat. Stir the sugar with a spatula to dissolve it. Once it starts to boil, stop stirring. Let the mixture boil on medium heat to a temperature of 116°C / 240°F.

The color of the mixture will change from white to yellow/light brown around the edges. (Towards the end, the mixture will start to bubble. To get a more accurate temperature reading, tilt the saucepan a little and check the temperature in the tilted part).

When the temperature is reached, remove the saucepan from heat. Add chopped pistachios and lemon zest. Mix with a spatula. Pour the mixture on parchment paper. Place a second parchment paper on top (or just fold the same parchment paper on top of the mixture). Roll out the mixture to a 5 mm thickness. Keep in the freeze until the mixture is set and it’s easy enough to remove the parchment paper.

In a cool room, sprinkle a little flour on parchment paper and place the dough on top and dust it with flour as well. Place a second parchment paper on top of the dough. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough between the two parchment papers to a 4-5 mm thickness. (Flip the dough occasionally and roll out the other side as well so that the parchment paper won’t get wrinkled and leave creases on the dough).

Please note (!)

If at any point the dough starts to soften, put it back in the fridge until it is stiff again. It’s not critical, but it’s easier to work with cold hard dough.

Gently remove the parchment papers. Set the dough back on one of the papers (this is done to prevent the dough from sticking on the parchment paper).

Using a cookie cutter or a stencil, cut out Hamsa shapes from the dough. Using a knife, cut out a wide eye in the center of the Hamsa. Release the Hamsa shapes and place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Keep in the fridge until baking time.

Preheat the oven to 175 °C (350 °F). Remove the parchment paper from the pistachio brittle. With a sharp knife, cut out small diamond shapes from the pistachio brittle to fit the eye in the Hamsa cookies. (If the brittle starts to softens, put it back in the freezer until it is stiff again).

Remove the Hamsa cookies from the fridge. Place them on a second baking tray (the cold tray could warp in the oven). Place a piece of brittle at the center of each Hamsa cookie. Put the baking tray in the oven. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until the edge starts to brown. Remove from the oven and set it aside to cool. The gingerbread cookies stay crunchy for two to three days as long as they’re kept in an airtight container. When exposed to air, the cookies will start to soften.

The post Gingerbread Hamsa Cookies appeared first on Cake Lab

After spending an entire day deep in oil in search of the perfect sufganiot, I faced another dilemma: what cream to put inside? I was so sure I was going to make sufganiot filled with homemade pistachio spread. By the end of the day, I was struck with another idea; fill the sufganiot with lemon pistachio mousseline cream that I used once for filling éclairs. I got wonderful, tangy sufganiot.

I glazed the sufganiot with a thin layer of sugar and lemon and topped them with pistachios. A lot of friends visited me the day before. Too bad that none of them had the chance to have a little bite.

Seven people witnessed my journey in search of the perfect sufganiot. They tasted all my experiments and shared their thoughts with me. But they didn’t get to taste test the finished product.

Oh well, I promise it’s tasty. As long as you fill the sufganiot properly. After a few tests, I found that 15 g of filling is perfect for these sufganiot. I took Liz’s advice, although she was just joking. I weighed one of the sufganiot before filling, filled it and then weighed it again. 15 g gave me the perfect, most delicious bite, without making it too heavy.

Ingredients

Dough
450 g flour
50 g sugar
9 g instant dry yeast (3 tsp)*
Zest of 1 lemon
60 g eggs (1L)
½ tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp Grand Marnier liqueur **
180 g lukewarm milk (¾ cup)
6 g salt (1 tsp)
50 g softened butter (cut into cubes)

For frying
1 L canola oil

Pistachio paste (can be store bought)
60 g shelled pistachios
10 g grapeseed oil

Pistachio mousseline cream ***
190 g milk
zest of 1 lemon
45 g egg yolk (3M)
45 g sugar
15 g cornstarch
15 g pistachio paste
45 g softened butter

Glaze
150 g powdered sugar
15 g lemon juice
15 g milk

Topping
50 g shelled pistachios (roasted or not, according to taste)

Equipment
Thermometer
Small pot
Round cookie cutter, 6 cm in diameter
Perforated spatula
Pastry bag fitted with a smooth 8 mm piping tip
Parchment paper cut into squares (about 7×7 cm)
Brush

* Can substitute with 27 g fresh yeast.
** Can substitute with Brandi, rum or any other liqueur.
*** Make an hour ahead.

The recipe makes about 12-14 pistachio sufganiot

Dough

Weigh all ingredients in advance. If the milk is cold, warm it up for a minute on low heat. If the butter is cold, soften it in the microwave in 5-second pulses. Lightly grease a big bowl and set it aside.

Put flour, sugar and yeast in the mixer bowl. Whisk until uniform. Attach the dough hook to the mixer and turn it on, on low speed.

Add lemon zest, eggs, lemon juice, liqueur, lukewarm milk. Keep mixing for about 2 minutes until the flour is almost incorporated in the dough.

Add salt and butter. Increase the mixer speed to low-medium. Knead for about 8 more minutes, until the dough is soft and flexible.

Remove the dough from the bowl and form it into a smooth ball. Transfer the dough to the greased bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Keep it in a warm place and let the dough rise for about an hour and a half to two hours. It should double in size. (I just turn on the AC on 28-30 °C / 82-86 °F and place the bowl near it.)

Lightly flour the work surface. Remove the puffed dough from the bowl and place it on the surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1.5-2 cm, not more and not less. Using a round cookie cutter, cut out circles from the dough as close to each other as possible.

Place each dough circle on a square parchment paper and transfer it onto a baking tray. Combine the remainder of the dough by kneading it just a little. Roll it out and cut out more dough circles.

Cover the dough circles with a clean kitchen towel. Let them rise for about 40-60 minutes at a warm temperature, until they double in size.

Fry

Fill a small pot with canola oil. The oil must be at least 5 cm deep. Heat it on high heat to a temperature of 170 °C / 340 °F. Lower the flame and get ready for the next step.

Lift a dough circle along with its parchment paper and flip it over above the hot oil carefully (!) so it plunges head first into the oil. Carefully remove the parchment paper.

Fry the dough for about a minute and a half. Using a perforated spatula, flip the dough and fry it for another minute to minute and a half on its other side (about 2-3 minutes frying in total).

The first 2-3 sufganiot won’t come out nicely, so first use the dough that went through additional kneading and processing. Remove the sufganiot from the oil and let the excess oil drip back into the pot. Place the sufganiot on a paper towel to absorb the oil.

Fry the rest of the dough, 2-3 sufganiot at a time. Keep the temperature relatively set at 170 °C / 340 °F by increasing or lowering the flame beneath the pot. Cool the sufganiot at room temperature before filling them.

Pistachio paste

Preheat the oven to 160 °C (320 ºF). Scatter the pistachios on a baking tray and roast for about 7 minutes until they brown a bit.

After the pistachios have cooled, grind them to a powder in a small food processor. Add the oil and grind again until it becomes a paste. Weigh the amount needed and place it in a bowl.

Pistachio mousseline cream

Bring the milk to a boil. Turn off the heat, add lemon zest, cover and let it sit for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, combine egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and immediately whisk. Add cornstarch and whisk again. Add the warm milk while whisking all along. Continue to whisk for a few more seconds.

Pour the mixture through a sieve into a clean saucepan and discard the lemon zest left in the sieve. Heat on medium heat and whisk energetically until the mixture thickens and becomes creamy.

Remove from heat and immediately transfer the cream into the bowl containing the pistachio spread. Whisk together until uniform. Lay plastic wrap on top of the cream to keep a crust from forming while it cools.

When the cream temperature reaches 40 ºC /104 ºF, add the softened butter gradually and mix well until uniform. Again, lay plastic wrap on top of the cream and keep in the fridge for an hour or two.

Putting it all together!

Fit a pastry bag with a smooth 8 mm tip and fill it with the mousseline cream. Cut a small opening on the top of the sufganiot by sticking a sharp knife in the top and reaching only to the center.

Stick the piping tip inside the sufganiot from the top and fill them with mousseline cream. Fill about 15 g cream in each one. How to do that? Place one of the sufganiot on a scale, reset the scale, fill it with cream and check if it gained proper weight.

Glazing and topping

In a food processor, grind pistachios to a powder (If you prefer roasted pistachios, roast them first for about 7 minutes on 160 ° C / 320 ° F, let them chill at room temperature and only then grind them). Transfer the ground pistachios to a small bowl.

Put powdered sugar, lemon juice and milk in a small bowl and mix. Dip the top of the sufganiot in the glaze. Let the glaze excess drip back to the bowl. Towards the end, remove the excess glaze that’s left on the sufganiot using a clean finger.

To finish, sprinkle ground pistachio on top and serve. Sufganiot don’t keep for too long, so you better eat them the day they’re made.

The post Lemon Pistachio Sufganiot appeared first on Cake Lab

Last week, Instagram reminded me of wonderful sufganiot I made a year ago. Pistachio sufganiot filled with homemade pistachio spread. At the time I was planning to upload a recipe, but I couldn’t finish it in time. This year I didn’t give up. Somehow, after a long day of experimenting with different combinations of ingredients — making dough, letting it rise, rolling it out and endless frying — I landed upon the perfect recipe.

My search for the perfect pistachio sufganiot recipe was long, but I didn’t go through it alone. Reut came to help me out and tried to convince me that cinnamon in the dough itself would be much tastier. Lucky enough, her mom Liz and her sister Naama came by and agreed with me. Cinnamon doesn’t really work here like it works in Swedish donuts.

Ari dropped by for a short visit on his way to some errand and it reminded me of the Grand Marnier I inherited from him not long ago. I actually didn’t want to put alcohol in my sufganiot. But after several failed attempts I discovered that alcohol lets the dough rise better while frying due to its rapid evaporation. So I added a bit of alcohol, and then some. Grand Marnier is an orange flavored liqueur and I think it goes hand in hand with the lemon zest in the dough.

I kept testing

So I got puffy, drunken pistachio sufganiot, but not yet perfect. I kept testing. Along the way, more friends came to visit. Ayehlet, Naomi and even Miriam who was visiting from the US. Everyone was impressed by the sufganiot assembly line.

Little by little the sufganiot started to take on a nice round shape and even had a white stripe around them. Only around midnight, on my seventh try, I reached salvation. Naomi, who stayed with me till the sweet end, was rewarded with fresh, hot sufganiot full of pistachio goodness.

Ingredients

Dough
450 g flour
50 g sugar
9 g instant dry yeast (3 tsp)*
Zest of 1 lemon
60 g eggs (1L)
½ tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp Grand Marnier liqueur **
180 g lukewarm milk (¾ cup)
6 g salt (1 tsp)
50 g soft butter (cut into cubes)

For frying
1 L canola oil

Filling
220 g pistachio spread (prepare a day ahead)

Topping
30 g butter
50 g shelled pistachios (roasted or not, according to taste)

Equipment
Thermometer
Small pot
Round cookie cutter, 6 cm in diameter
Perforated spatula
Pastry bag fitted with a smooth 8 mm piping tip
Parchment paper cut into squares (about 7×7 cm)
Brush

* Can substitute with 27 g fresh yeast.
** Can substitute with Brandi, rum or any other liqueur.

The recipe makes about 12-14 pistachio sufganiot

Dough

Weigh all ingredients in advance. If the milk is cold, warm it up for a minute on low heat. If the butter is cold, soften it in the microwave in 5-second pulses. Lightly grease a big bowl and set it aside.

Put flour, sugar and yeast in the mixer bowl. Whisk until uniform. Attach the dough hook to the mixer and turn it on, on low speed.

Add lemon zest, eggs, lemon juice, liqueur, lukewarm milk. Keep mixing for about 2 minutes until the flour is almost incorporated in the dough.

Add salt and butter. Increase the mixer speed to low-medium. Keep kneading for about 8 more minutes, until the dough is soft and flexible.

Remove the dough from the bowl. Form it into a smooth ball. Transfer the dough to the greased bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Keep it in a warm place and let the dough rise for about an hour and a half to two hours. It should double in size. (I just turn on the AC on 28-30 °C / 82-86 °F and place the bowl near it.)

Lightly flour the work surface. Remove the puffed dough from the bowl and place it on the surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1.5-2 cm, not more and not less. Using a round cookie cutter, cut out circles from the dough as close to each other as possible.

Place each dough circle on a square parchment paper and transfer it onto a baking tray. Combine the remainder of the dough by kneading it just a little. Roll it out and cut out more dough circles.

Cover the dough circles with a clean kitchen towel. Let them rise for about 40-60 minutes at a warm temperature, until they double in size.

Fry

Fill a small pot with canola oil. The oil must be at least 5 cm deep. Heat it on high heat to a temperature of 170 °C / 340 °F. Lower the flame and get ready for the next step.

Lift a dough circle along with its parchment paper and flip it over above the hot oil carefully (!) so it plunges head first into the oil. Carefully remove the parchment paper.

Fry the dough for about a minute and a half. Using a perforated spatula, flip the dough and fry it for another minute to minute and a half on its other side (about 2-3 minutes frying in total).

The first 2-3 sufganiot won’t come out nicely, so first use the dough that went through additional kneading and processing. Remove the sufganiot from the oil and let the excess oil drip back into the pot. Place the sufganiot on a paper towel to absorb the oil.

Fry the rest of the dough, 2-3 sufganiot at a time. Keep the temperature relatively set at 170 °C / 340 °F by increasing or lowering the flame beneath the pot. Cool the sufganiot at room temperature before filling them.

Filling

The day before, prepare the pistachio spread according to this recipe. Fit a pastry bag with a smooth 8 mm tip and fill it with the pistachio spread. Keep it in room temperature until the sufganiot are ready.

Topping and assembling

In a food processor, grind pistachios to a powder (If you prefer roasted pistachios, roast them first for about 7 minutes on 160 ° C / 320 ° F, let them chill at room temperature and only then grind them). Transfer the ground pistachios to a small bowl.

Melt the butter. Using a brush, spread a thin layer of melted butter on top of the sufganiot. Dip the top of each one in the ground pistachios. Cut a small opening on the top of the sufganiot by sticking a sharp knife in the top and reaching only to the center.

Stick the piping tip inside the sufganiot from the top and fill them with pistachio spread. Fill about 15 g pistachio spread in each one. How to do that? Place one of the sufganiot on a scale, reset the scale, fill it with the spread and check if it gained proper weight.

To finish, pipe a little mound of pistachio spread on top of the hole and serve. These pistachio sufganiot don’t keep for too long, so you better eat them the day they’re made.

The post Pistachio Sufganiot appeared first on Cake Lab

Last week I got a pretty awesome gift, a pastry cookbook from close, yet ever so far, Lebanon. In her book, Sweet Levantine, Lara Ariss writes about baking with an emphasis on local ingredients, like olive oil, halva and mastic, which she combines in both her Middle Eastern recipes and her classic European recipes.

For some reason, maybe because I grew up in a similar environment, I chose to bake the most European recipe I could find in her book, with a French name and lots of chestnuts. Maybe I just found it exotic.

My friend Reut came to visit me yesterday. We scheduled in advance to meet at 8:00. I planned a whole day of baking together. At around 10 am I asked her if she’s coming. I then found out that she meant to come at 8 pm. Oy Reut.

Never mind, I started baking anyway. At least there would be something sweet waiting for her in the fridge when she came. Eventually I found myself making this chocolate and chestnut pots de crème three times.

Well, it is my fault. After I started working on the recipe, I realized I wasn’t keen on making the crème with an uncooked egg. So I changed the crème to crème anglaise. On the second time, I replaced the Italian meringue with Swiss meringue, again, for pasteurization reasons.

On the third time,

I reduced the cocoa solids of the dark chocolate so that the crème would be light. I also added milk to the mix. That’s it. As we say here, third time, ice cream pots de crème.

To strengthen the flavor of the chestnuts, I ground some chestnuts and added them to the meringue, like I did once with my chestnut krembo. Reut found it a little weird. She was expecting chocolate chips after taking the first bite but couldn’t understand why the bits in the meringue were soft and not crunchy.

Yuval (who came to visit) and I liked it just the way it was, knowing in advance that this whole pots de crème contains bits of soft chestnuts. That’s why I wrote that this addition is optional in the recipe. For your consideration.

Also, Lara uses a store bought chestnut puree in the recipe. I’m not sure where you get those, so I just made chestnut puree according to Akis Oetrezikis’s recipe from peeled and roasted chestnuts. You can find these in grocery stores packed in vacuum bags. The recipe for the puree is very simple, and very tasty. It keeps for about 10 days.

Ingredients

Chestnut Puree
200 g peeled & roasted chestnuts
75 g sugar
½ tsp vanilla paste/extract
250 g water

Chocolate & chestnut crème
150 g dark chocolate 60%
250 g chestnut puree
250 g heavy cream
120 g milk
3 egg yolks (about 55 g)

Swiss meringue
2 egg whites (about 80 g)
140 g sugar
Pinch of salt
30 g peeled & roasted chestnuts (optional)

Equipment
Food processor
Thermometer
Pastry bag fitted with a smooth 16 mm tip
Burner
Measuring pitcher

The recipe makes about 14 small cups (¼ cup big)

Chestnut Puree

Put chestnuts, sugar, vanilla and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil on high heat. Stir with a spatula to dissolve the sugar. Once the water starts to boil, stop stirring and remove the spatula. Let it simmer on low-medium heat for about 25-30 minutes or until the liquid is reduced to 1 cm high. Remove from heat.

Transfer the mixture into a food processor. Grind until you get a uniform puree. Weight the amount needed into a saucepan. Otherwise, keep the puree covered in the fridge for about 10 days.

Chocolate & chestnut crème

Break the chocolate into small pieces and put in a measuring pitcher. Add heavy cream, milk and egg yolks to the saucepan containing the chestnut puree and mix it a little.

Yes, I know, it’s a little difficult to mix it all because of the chestnut puree, but it will soften as the temperature rises. (It might be possible to do this step without the puree and just add the puree to the chocolate from the start, but I didn’t try it out).

Place the saucepan on medium heat and heat to a temperature of 78 °C / 172 °F (it’s ok if it gets higher, but not more than 84 °C / 183 °F), while mixing vigorously, yet gently, all along with a spatula so that the egg yolks won’t curdle. (Pat attention mainly to the bottom of the saucepan). The mixture will thicken a bit.

Remove from heat and pour immediately over chocolate. Mix a little bit with a spatula and then use a hand blender to blend it to a uniform consistency. Pout the crème into cups right away. Shake the cups a little to flatten the surface. Keep in the fridge.

Swiss meringue

Put egg whites, sugar and salt in a stainless steel bowl and whisk well. Warm the mixture on a double boiler (medium heat) while whisking all along to melt the sugar and pasteurize the egg whites.

Once the temperature reaches 60 °C /140 °F, lower the flame and keep whisking for about 5 more minutes (OR bring the temperature to 70 °C /160 °F and whisk for 1 minute).

Make sure the temperature doesn’t pass 75 °C /165 °F. (I just lower or turn off the flame accordingly and keep the temperature between 60-70 °C /140-160 °F).

Remove from heat and strain immediately into the mixer bowl. Whip the mixture on maximum speed for about 5-7 minutes until the meringue is stable and shiny (stiff peaks).

Optional: grind chestnuts in a food processor in short pulses until you get coarse chunks of chestnuts. When the meringue it ready, add the chestnuts to the meringue and fold with a spatula. (Just a few folds are enough. The more you fold, the more you risk softening the meringue for piping).

Fit a pastry bag with a 16 mm smooth tip and fill it with the meringue. Pipe a nice doll-up in each cup. Keep in the fridge for about 2-3 days. Before serving, use a burner to burn the meringue and impress your guests.

The post Chocolate & Chestnut Pots de Crème appeared first on Cake Lab

A little more than a year ago, good friends of mine, Yuval and Elisha, packed their belongings, said goodbye to crowded Tel Aviv and moved to France to build a new home with their baby girl Akko. Since then, they host family and friends non-stop in their beautiful house in the village of Lauris in southern France. It was only a matter of time before I would find myself there, between lavender fields and endless vineyards, raising a glass to a simpler, more charming life.

Autumn was almost here, and with it the desire to run away to the unknown. I visited France a few times in the past, mainly Paris, but never southern France. The lavender fields, Yuval and Elisha too, called my name. Unfortunately, the lavender fields were purple no longer, summer was almost over. But in September the grape harvest was at its peak and purple grapes adorned the vineyards. Goodbye Jerusalem. Provence, here I come.

Daniel and I landed in Marseille in the early morning. We rented a car and drove straight away to Aix-en-Provence to meet Elisha. From the moment we stepped on French soil we realized we were under-dressed. The French know what chic is. They probably invented it. But it didn’t bother me so much. I had other business to attend to. More important business: my hunt for the first baguette.

We passed by a Paul, and like any other tourist, got caught in its net. Daniel had already paid for his tart when Elisha sent us this text as a response to the light breakfast at Paul’s: “Noooo”. Too late. “Go to Weibel”, she suggested.

So we took her advice.

And to make things right, we ordered coffee, a baguette, a croissant and a small pistachio cake. We sat outside the corner café and enjoyed our breakfast. Afterwards, we met Elisha and traveled together to her house in Lauris.

Lauris is a quiet little village. Yuval and Elisha’s house is warm and pleasant, with a classic-modern design. In the kitchen there’s a big wooden table and windows overlooking a small hill green with trees. Akko, who already speaks perfect cute French, woke up. We took her to kindergarten and then Yuval took us for a little tour in the neighborhood.

He told us about the history of this charming village as we strolled and picked grapes from a vine climbing outside one of the houses. We entered through the gate of a castle that was no longer there and discovered a breathtaking view that Yuval defined as Lauris’ Eiffel Tower.

We returned home and drank coffee with almond milk while Yuval picked tomatoes from his own garden to make a Caprese salad. After lunch we took another stroll, this time up the hill nearby and towards the endless vineyards. We entered the neighboring winery and tasted the array of wines there.

A little tipsy, we drove to neighboring Rognes. In the village there’s a bakery and a biscuiterie (who knew that even existed?) with a lot of small dry grandma cookies (credit to Yuval for the accurate description).

The next day we drove to Marseille.

We wandered around the port and the nearby alleyways, ate Moroccan couscous and tasted wonderful Tunisian pastries from a French baker that spoke fluent Hebrew at Pâtisserie Orientale. We finished the day with a bit of shopping (the only one on the whole trip) at Uniqlo.

Then my day arrived. A morning all to myself in Aix-en-Provence, or Aix for short. I hitched a ride with Elisha on her way to French class. Upon her recommendation I had breakfast at Maison Nosh in the pedestrian area of the city. I ordered a banana toast with nuts, honey and cocoa. From my point of view, any toast a French baker makes is French toast to me.

I ate my breakfast in anticipation of the main goal of the day. Madeleines! They’re a kind of mini pound cake shaped as a shell. The French writer Marcel Proust writes about it in his book “In Search of Lost Time”. Right after he dips a madeleine in his cup of tea, he’s overflown with unexpected joy and childhood memories.

The madeleine served as the catalyst to write his book, and his book helped make madeleines popular over the years. Yuval claims that Elisha loves madeleines from the same reason Proust loved them. The taste, and especially the smell, awakens lost memories from the past.

Christophe Madeleines

The clock stroke 10:00. It was time. Christophe Madeleines opened. The shop is known for its good reputation and endless line. On my way there, I passed by a preoccupied young girl taking a picture of the inside of a fat brown bag. I couldn’t see what wa inside, but I guessed from the aroma.

When I reached Christophe’s shop, I was luckily the only customer. The vendors were busy taking trays full of madeleines that were probably just baked to the front of the shop. Supposedly, all of their madeleines look the same, but the signs showed otherwise.

I asked for two of each kind. The vendor gave me a surprised look and said there were seven different kinds. I repeated myself: “Two madeleines of each kind and one canelé please!” She smiled and gave me two fat brown bags full of madeleines.

I turned around and was surprised by the line that amassed behind me. I felt like a little kid. I grabbed my loot and hurried up to find a quiet place to enjoy the morning sun and the fresh madeleines. Truthfully, I could have built a whole birthday cake from all of them.

So many madeleines! Classic madeleines, madeleines with rum and raisins, lemon flavored madeleines, orange flavored madeleines, madeleines with chocolate chips, praliné madeleines and my favorite, almond madeleines (reminded me of marzipan).

Calissons

Today’s mission was complete. Next up, calissons! Despite my hype for the madeleines, calissons are actually Provence’s official sweet, especially in Aix-en-Provence.

Calisson is similar to marzipan, made of almonds and candied fruits like melon and orange. It has a citrus fragrance and is shaped as a leaf. I made the classic calisson once as a goodbye gift to Yuval and Elisha, and later made a wonderful lemon pistachio calisson.

Following my friends’ advice, I skipped Le Roy René’s calisson chain store and headed straight to Léonard Parli with the best calissons in Aix. It’s pretty funny actually. Outside every calisson shop there’s a sign advertising Les véritables calissons – the real callisons of Aix. I’ll decide that for myself, thank you very much.

Le Roy René’s calissons are kind of disappointing without much flavor. But Léonard Parli’s calissons were amazing, with strong flavors. I bought the biggest box they had. There went 20 euros.

Chocolate

I continued on my journey. From Puyricard, a prestigious chocolate store (caramel chocolate covered almonds, yum), to yet another “original” calisson shop, my appetite for sweet indulgence got bigger and bigger.

I stepped out of a small alley and stumbled upon an impressive food market. Old cheeses, quality wine, fresh bread and baguettes, all kind of spices, endless types of honey (I finally found lavender honey I wanted so much to use in my honey lavender macarons), and even homemade couscous. And raspberry! Raspberry everywhere! Raspberry for everyone! A kilo of raspberry that cost 10 times more back home.

The market felt infinite. Every ally led to new stands and merchandise. Suddenly I understood what Elisha was talking about. Five minutes here could easily stretch into an hour or two. You get lost in all of the abundance, and sometimes the colorful smells lead you, not your feet. I decided to get away from it all and walk the quiet alleyways nearby, getting lost in serenity.

Farmer’s market

Later that afternoon, we all went to a farmer’s market back in Lauris. A small enchanted farmer’s market with a humble café. The market operates as a collective that Yuval and Elisha participate in. Close by, there’s a small green patch where they grow vegetables and right next to it, a small garden with a stream. There are wooden tables and chairs in the garden, and even one ping pong table.

At the entrance to the market we noticed an impressive woman who squeezed grapes on the spot (not an easy job). She sold fresh grape juice with a deep pink color and a flavor that reminds you of the fruit itself. We bought cheeses and buns infused with grape juice and them sat down comfortably in the garden to enjoy the new flavors. A perfect ending to a perfect day.

Avignon

The next day, Daniel and I visited some neighboring villages and cities. We started at Avignon, one of the largest cities in the area, with a love of theatre. We entered the indoor market Les Halles (with surprise cameos of a strolling narrator and an off-key, hilarious opera clown).

We bought a provençal tart, tart tatin, canelé and pistachio macaron and enjoyed a picnic by the water canal. We stopped for coffee at a vegan café and continued to the next village, Gordes. On our way there, we passed through vineyards, fields of apple trees and even a pumpkin field.

Gordes

Gordes is a tourist village on a mountain. Just before entering, we stopped to enjoy the breathtaking view of the village itself from a hill nearby. We reached the center, got ice cream and strolled the steep streets like good tourists. The village is beautiful, but the ice cream captured my heart. Le Petit Nans – Denis’ ice cream – is one of a kind artisanal ice cream found only on that spot, with special flavors like lavender and cucumber.

It wasn’t the only surprise in that little village. On our walk we stumbled upon a spot we could have easily missed. Le Fournil de Mamie Jeanne didn’t look that impressive from the outside. We decided to take a peek inside anyway and discovered a warm little bakery.

They didn’t have much on offer, but it was pretty hard to choose from what they did have. Pastry, cakes and tarts in every corner. We bought a chocolate and almond croissant and a very pink praliné tartlet. The croissant was excellent but the tartlet was heavenly and so crunchy!

Roussillon

We drove to our last destination for the day, Roussillon. A village that looks like Bryce, Utah’s national park in the US, with red rocks, orange houses and what looked like sumac trees. Roussillon and Gordes also are considered to be some of the most beautiful villages in France.

We came back home to Lauris content, just to find a homemade pizza in the oven and figs in a pot on the stove for fig jam. That Elisha, what a host. And me? I contributed by preparing the madeleine batter at home while the rest enjoyed a jazz concert tribute to the legendary Dalida that included an accordionist who hypnotized little Akko.

Aux Ateliers Chez Franck et Flo

Good morning. The weekend is here, and with it the smell of madeleines from the oven and the expectation of a spontaneous trip to southwest France with Elisha, Yuval and Akko. Before we started our journey, we headed to the famous brunch of Aux Ateliers Chez Franck et Flo. We reserved a table in advance — our friends insisted we not miss out on it.

Lucky we didn’t. You eat as much as you can from an exquisite French cuisine. The food was amazing, the Comté cheese was out of this world, but what really hit me was the perfectly arranged dessert table. I started loading sweets on my plate while the waitress was still bringing them to the display table. I guess she’s not used to people like me who start their breakfast with dessert.

So many baked goods! Baba au rum, raspberry tart, mini tropézienne, éclairs and macarons that would make any chef proud. This wonderful brunch happens only on weekends, and on Sundays there’s even a concert that accompanies this culinary delight. The rest of the week the restaurant operates as a prestigious one-star Michelin restaurant.

Carcassonne

Right after the endless brunch, we drove together to our first destination, Carcassonne. Goodbye Provence, hello Occitane. We abandoned the highway and drove through small villages. On our way we passed by a roundabout with a sign in the middle that read Savoir Vivre (know how to live). It served us as a motto for the rest of the trip.

We made a short stop at the Château Grand Moulin winery and tasted different kinds of wine while Celine Dion played in the background. We went on our merry way and reached our AirBnb in Carcassonne. An apartment with a big garden and an almost prefect view of the iconic castle of Carcassonne.

Yuval hastened us to take advantage of the last bit of daylight and go to the castle, a place he himself is discovering for the first time also, something that doesn’t happen much. Travelling with Yuval is not only travelling with a good friend who is a tour guide, it’s also travelling with a walking encyclopedia. He is full of information and always thirsty for more. Unfortunately, the inside of the castle was too touristy. Yuval said it best: the castle looks pretty from the outside, but it lost its heart.

Rémi Touja

The next morning we woke up early and headed to Rémi Touja’s pâtisserie shop at the city center. Wow. For a moment I felt like I was entering a boutique bakery in Paris. Rémi, the chef himself, worked behind the counter, wearing a white jacket and piping cream in profiteroles.

All around us we saw layered entremets cakes, creams and spreads, handmade chocolate tablets and baba in rum. You heard it right, not baba au rum, but a jar full of small baba cakes “preserved” in a lot of rum. There was also one in mojito, but I decided to get the classic one and give it as a gift to Yuval who shares my love of the drunken cake.

In addition to the baba, we ate Arabica, which is a coffee mousse with dark Madagascar chocolate, a lemon meringue tart and a cake named “Je Ne Sais Pas” – a dark chocolate mousse cake with cocoa biscuit and pears compote.

We took some pictures, ate our sweets and kept going till we found ourselves in the Geek Asia festival of Carcassone. People were dressed as their favorite comic characters. There were stands with rare geeky finds and shows for the eager audience (like Krav Maga). On our way back we passed through fields of men playing Pétanque, a boules sport common in southern France.

Toulouse

We traveled so far on our trip already, shouldn’t we just go on a little west and visit Toulouse, the pink city? Of course we should. We made a spontaneous trip to Toulouse, located about an hour away from Carcassone.

We had an agenda in mind. We were searching for a cassoulet for Yuval to eat. We had a little walk, saw the big river and then hurried back to our restaurant.

Le Bibent is a Michelin recommended restaurant with cassoulet on the menu. As usual, I went right for the dessert. I ordered a belle Hélène – a locally-sourced pear covered in chocolate syrup and served with vanilla ice cream. It came with a wide smile from the waiter who probably knew how much I’d enjoy it.

Tarascon-sur-Ariège

We faced a crossroads. Should we go back home to Lauris? Should we stay a night in Toulouse? Or Should we drive to Andorra (a tiny country between France and Spain)? Should we just drive and see where the wheels take us? Yes! We drove through green hills on a sunny day.

We were aiming for Ax-les-Thermes but then Yuval noticed a village on the side of the road with an old clock tower on a hill. We turned towards the enchanted village and got sucked into it. Tarascon-sur-Ariège – a French village with a Catalan identity. We ate dinner at a local restaurant. Yuval gobbled down escargot after escargot while I enjoyed a Chèvre pizza with goat cheese and honey.

We found ourselves a picturesque inn and slept one night in the village. We woke up to a homemade breakfast in the common room. Our host offered us homemade jams he himself made – peach jam, melon jam, zucchini jam and even black lentil jam that was very tasty and reminded me of halva.

I especially enjoyed the ancient macarons that his wife made, but for some odd reason the rest of the gang didn’t like them so much. They said it reminded them of Passover cookies. Oh well.

We left the inn and found ourselves in the middle of an agriculture fair. The market was impressive – fish, sheep, baked goods, mattresses, clothes, bells, shepherd sticks and in between, Jehovah’s Witnesses stands.

A caravan was parked in the middle of all the fuss. It served as a coffee shop. When we approached, immediately all the old people around it recommended the hot chocolate. The cute Austrian barista, who learned the trade from her husband, made me a cappuccino with hot chocolate that was exactly what I needed after a warm breakfast.

Back home to Lauris

We drove up a mountain to a remote village, then started our journey back home to Lauris with a sweet taste in our mouths. The time had come to end our trip in southern France. I bid our dear friends goodbye and boarded a plane to Madrid.

It was such a cheap flight, I couldn’t pass up a few more days in a new city. I got some good advice from Yuval and discovered a lively, thrilling city. But that’s a story for another day.

Raspberry Madeleines

I was introduced to madeleines during my pastry studies at Bishulim. They were classic madeleines, soft and tasty, covered in lemon glaze. My plan was to make madeleines in France, in a foreign kitchen, with unfamiliar tools. To play it safe, I used the school’s recipe which I already know and love, with the addition of raspberry.

I wanted to cover the madeleines with a lemon-lime glaze, but my friends were so pressed to head out to the awesome brunch of Franck and Flo that I had to skip it. Maybe better so. Christophe’s great madeleines in Aix are sold as they are, with no glaze or any special addition. Furthermore, madeleines are best right after taking them out of the oven, freshly baked.

Ingredients
200 g butter
200 g eggs
170 g sugar
10 g honey
180 g all-purpose flour
5 g baking powder
1 g salt (¼ tsp)
Zest from 1 lemon
150 g fresh raspberries

Equipment
Madeleine pan
Pastry bag

The recipe makes 30 madeleines

Melt the butter on low-medium flame, but not completely (the butter should stay a little white). Let cool to room temperature before use.

Rinse the raspberries well. Using a sharp knife, cut the raspberries into halves or even quarters. Keep aside.

Put eggs, honey and sugar in a bowl and whisk well (mix without whipping). Sift flour and baking powder into a separate bowl. Add salt, lemon zest and mix. Gradually transfer the flour mixture into the egg mixture and mix well.

Make sure the melted butter is at room temperature. Add a quarter of the batter to the melted butter. Using a whisk, mix until uniform. Pour it back into the batter and mix well. Gently fold the raspberry pieces into the batter.

Fill a pastry bag with the batter and close the top tightly. Keep in the fridge for a night.

The next day, preheat the oven to 170 ᵒC / 340 ᵒF. Prepare the pan for baking by lightly buttering the sockets. Remove the batter from the fridge and cut a wide hole at the edge of the pastry bag.

Pipe a wide stripe in each socket in the pan (in theory, the socket should be filled up to ¾ of its height). Place the pan in the oven and immediately lower the temperature to 160 ᵒC / 320 ᵒF. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until the edges brown.

Tip: To get that typical madeleine belly, when the madeleines are already baked around the edges but not in the middle, open the oven door for a second and close it immediately.

Let the madeleines cool a little and serve them right away. Alternatively, bake the madeleines close to serving time. Madeleines are at their best when just out of the oven.

The post Madeleines in Provence appeared first on Cake Lab